Following the assessment by the Federal Agency for the Protection of the Constitution, there is consideration for disarming members of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in several federal states. According to research by the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung” (FAS), a nationwide upgrading of the AfD from a “suspicious case” to a “confirmed right-wing extremist” group in terms of weapons law has led to concrete effects.
Baden-Württemberg’s Minister of the Interior, Thomas Strobl, commented, “If a party is classified as confirmed right-wing extremist, that is obviously significant. Weapons do not belong in the hands of enemies of our democracy” said the CDU politician, “so we must fully exploit all legal possibilities.”
The revocation of weapons permits for AfD members is therefore also on the agenda for the upcoming conference of interior ministers in Bremerhaven on June 11. “The handling of armed AfD members will certainly be a topic at the conference of interior ministers” said the Minister of the Interior of Sachsen-Anhalt, Tamara Zieschang (CDU), to the FAS.
According to weapons law expert Markus Eisenbarth from the Kehl University of Applied Sciences for Public Administration, all states must now respond to the assessment by the Federal Agency for the Protection of the Constitution. Because the achieved upgrading is a “strong indication” of a lack of reliability in weapons law. Even the standstill agreement, which the protection agency made due to the urgent request of the AfD, does not prevent the weapons authorities. “The weapons authorities could already decide based on their own assessment responsibility” said Eisenbarth.