Does German gun law need tightening?

After the mass killing in Hamburg in early March, German Interior Minister Faeser wants to further tighten gun laws. Politicians and society are (almost) unanimous that this is necessary. But what do gun owners think? A conversation with a sports shooter.

Die geltenden Regelungen im Waffengesetz müssen nur korrekt angewendet werden, um weitere Amokläufe zu verhindern, sagt Andreas, seit gut 40 Jahren Sportschütze. Credit: Javier Durán / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm

Andreas wasn't quite sure about some of the numbers. We did some research:

According to its own figures, the DSB, the German Shooting Association, had just over 1.3 million members in 2022.

According to the German Federal Office of Administration, there were just over 5 million registered guns in private hands at the end of 2022.

By comparison, Australia had over 3.5 million guns in the spring of 2021. That is twice as many per capita as in Germany.