New gun laws in Germany could set precedent for EU regulations

Officials from the Conservative and Social Democrat (SPD) coalition government said the draft law would also ban paintballing and bar youths under the age of 18 from shooting high-calibre guns in target practice.

The news comes after 17-year-old Tim Kretschmer shot dead 15 people before killing himself in the town of Winnenden, in Baden-Wüttemberg, in March.

The teenager used his father?s legally registered pistol.

His father, a member of a shooting club, had 15 guns at home.

Fourteen were locked in a gun cabinet as required by law, but the pistol was unsecured in a bedroom.

British shooting organisations have reacted to the news with concern.

Robert Gray of the Countryside Alliance said: ?Though this is not happening in the UK, some dangerous precedents could be set for future EU firearms legislation. There are uncomfortable echoes of politicians simply failing to learn the lessons of an awful tragedy, punishing some of the most law-abiding citizens in the country and not addressing the real reasons as to why this disaster could have happened.?

BASC?s chief executive, John Swift, said: ?BASC understands that our sister organisation in Germany, the Deutscher Jagdschutz Verband (DJV), is fighting these new proposals, believing that they go too far and will not work. There is no evidence to suggest that fingerprinting or other biosecurity measures would have prevented a tragedy such as the one involving Tim Kretschmer. The same can be said for the proposed security measures that override basic civil liberties. We fully support the DJV in its opposition to these excessive proposals.?

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