Example of the mediation procedure

Stenographic record

777th sitting

Berlin, Friday, 21 June 2002

Item 59 on the agenda:

Act to Reform the Weapons Law
(printed paper 524/02)

This bill, too, has been sent back by the Mediation Committee. I give the floor to the rapporteur, Minister President Dr Vogel (Thuringia).

Dr Bernhard Vogel(Thuringia), rapporteur:
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in its previous sitting on this issue, the Bundesrat called unanimously for the Mediation Committee to be convened to ensure that a number of important points in this bill were redrafted and made more precise.

The version before us today has been agreed on by the Mediation Committee, after a Bundesrat and Bundestag working group, in which the Federal Government was also involved, carried out the necessary preparatory work.

Allow me to set out briefly the amendments:

First, the minimum age for the acquisition and possession of firearms will be raised for target shooters from 18 years to 21 years and for hunters from 16 years to 18 years.

Second, children may shoot under supervision from the age of 12 years at the earliest. We have restored the current legal situation. The lowering of the minimum age to ten years, which had been provided for, has been reversed.

Third, when acquiring a firearm for the first time, persons under the age of 25 years will in future be required to provide a medical and psychological certificate relating to their psychological suitability to possess a weapon. In order to verify personal suitability, it is possible to check the Juvenile Delinquency Register.

Fourth, the rules of target shooting will in future be officially approved.

Fifth, weapons dealers must in future notify the relevant authority of the sale of weapons within two weeks. The notification obligation will apply not only to the buyer, but also to the seller.

Sixth, so called pump action shotguns will be banned upon the entry into force of the Act.

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I hope that this will send out a signal. We all know that no one can make a crime such as the one committed in Erfurt impossible in future. However, we also know that we must do everything humanly possible to prevent such a crime from reoccurring. The decision on this bill will contribute to this, and for that I would like to express my thanks.

President Klaus Wowereit: Federal Minister of the Interior Schily has the floor.

Otto Schily, Federal Minister of the Interior:
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I do not believe it is an exaggeration to say that today's sitting of the Bundesrat is the conclusion of an exemplary piece of legislative work. This is all the more remarkable as weapons law is such a complicated legal issue that it was impossible to reach a satisfactory result in previous electoral terms, when different groups formed the majority. This result is also remarkable because widely varying interests had to be harmonized.

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Ladies and gentlemen, in addition to the points set out by Minister President Vogel in his explanation of the Mediation Committee's proposal, the bill contains major reforms. It organizes the law on weapons and proof testing in a much clearer way by separating these two legal areas. In future, greater attention will be paid to the fitness requirements which owners of weapons must meet. Some weapons will be supervised more closely, the possession of others will be banned entirely. The Act will ensure that the cooperation between the authorities and target shooting associations is more effective. It will also ensure greater control and thus greater security. I would add that, in light of the occasional terrible events which have occurred - none of us have forgotten the shock of Erfurt - this is an extremely important bill. We should therefore be all the more grateful that this bill is likely to approved by a large majority today.

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President Klaus Wowereit: No further requests to speak have been made.

We now come to the vote. The German Bundestag has accepted the recommendation of the Mediation Committee. I would ask those who wish to vote in favour of the bill in its current form to raise their hands... That is a majority in favour.

The Bundesrat has thus given its consent to the Act.

(Federal Minister Otto Schily: That was unanimous!)

... That was in fact unanimous.

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