| I. Course of the deliberations
1. General observations
During its 208th sitting on 13 December 2001, the German
Bundestag referred the Federal Government's bill, printed paper
14/7758, to the Committee on Internal Affairs as the committee
responsible, and to the Committee on Legal Affairs, the Sports
Committee, the Committee on Consumer Protection, Food and
Agriculture and the Committee on Tourism as committees asked for an
opinion. During the 212th sitting of the German Bundestag on 24
January 2002, the bill was subsequently also referred to the
Committee on Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth as a
committee asked for an opinion.
During its 208th sitting on 13 December 2001, the German Bundestag
referred the Bundesrat's bill, printed paper 14/763, to the
Committee on Internal Affairs as the committee responsible, and to
the Committee on Legal Affairs, the Committee on Consumer
Protection, Food and Agriculture and the Committee on Family
Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth as committees asked for
an opinion.
2. Votes of the committees asked for an
opinion
During its 125th meeting on 24 April 2002, the Committee
on Legal Affairs recommended that the Government bill,
printed paper 14/7758, be adopted as amended by the coalition
parliamentary groups. The SPD and Alliance 90/The Greens
parliamentary groups voted in favour, as did the majority of the
members of the CDU/CSU and FDP parliamentary groups. The PDS
parliamentary group was not present. Additionally, the Committee on
Legal Affairs recommended unanimously, in the absence of the PDS
parliamentary group, that the Bundesrat bill, printed paper 14/763,
be rejected.
During its 57th meeting on 17 April 2002, the Sports
Committee recommended that the bill be adopted as amended
by the coalition parliamentary groups. The SPD and Alliance 90/The
Greens parliamentary groups voted in favour, with the CDU/CSU and
FDP parliamentary groups abstaining. The PDS parliamentary group
was not present. During its 92nd meeting on 24 April 2002, the
Committee on Consumer Protection, Food and
Agriculture recommended that the Government bill, printed
paper 14/7758, be adopted with the amendments of the coalition
parliamentary groups and amendments 2 and 4 introduced by the
CDU/CSU parliamentary group. The SPD, Alliance 90/The Greens, and
CDU/CSU parliamentary groups outvoted the FDP parliamentary group,
with the PDS parliamentary group abstaining. The committee voted
unanimously to recommend that the Bundesrat bill, printed paper
14/763, be rejected.
During its 86th meeting on 24 April 2002, the Committee on
Tourism recommended that the Government bill, printed
paper 14/7758, be adopted. The SPD, CDU/CSU, and Alliance 90/The
Greens parliamentary groups outvoted the FDP parliamentary group,
with the PDS parliamentary group abstaining.
During its 89th meeting on 24 April 2002, the Committee on
Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth
recommended that the Government bill, printed paper 14/7758, be
adopted with the amendments of the coalition parliamentary groups
and amendments 2 and 4 introduced by the CDU/CSU parliamentary
group. The SPD, CDU/CSU, and Alliance 90/The Greens parliamentary
groups outvoted the FDP parliamentary group. The PDS parliamentary
group was not present. Additionally, the committee recommended that
the Bundesrat's bill, printed paper 14/763, be rejected, with the
SPD, Alliance 90/The Greens, and CDU/CSU parliamentary groups
outvoting the FDP parliamentary group. The PDS parliamentary group
was not present.
3. Deliberations in the committee
responsible
a) During its 88th meeting on 27 February 2002, the
Committee on Internal Affairs decided unanimously
to hold a public hearing on the draft Act to Reform the Weapons
Law.
The Committee on Internal Affairs held the public hearing during
its 92nd meeting on 20 March 2002. Attention is drawn to the
minutes of the hearing, in which 15 experts participated.
The Committee on Internal Affairs concluded its deliberations on
the bills, printed papers 14/7758 and 14/763, during its 95th
meeting on 24 April 2002.
The result of the deliberations was that the Government bill,
printed paper 14/7758, was adopted with the amendments of the
coalition parliamentary groups and amendments 2 and 4 introduced by
the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. The SPD, CDU/CSU, and Alliance
90/The Greens parliamentary groups outvoted the FDP and PDS
parliamentary groups. Before this, the amendments of the coalition
parliamentary groups, committee printed paper 14/819, were adopted,
with the SPD, CDU/CSU, and Alliance 90/The Greens parliamentary
groups voting in favour and the FDP and PDS parliamentary groups
abstaining.
The coalition parliamentary groups' motion for a resolution,
committee printed paper 14/820, was adopted, with the SPD and
Alliance 90/The Greens parliamentary groups outvoting the CDU/CSU
parliamentary group. The FDP and PDS parliamentary groups
abstained.
Amendments 1 to 6 introduced by the CDU/CSU parliamentary group,
committee printed paper 14/821, were each voted on
separately.
Amendments 1, 3 and 5 were rejected, with the SPD and Alliance
90/The Greens parliamentary groups outvoting the CDU/CSU and FDP
parliamentary groups. The PDS parliamentary group abstained.
Amendments 2 and 4 were adopted, with all parliamentary groups
voting in favour with the exception of the PDS parliamentary group,
which abstained.
Amendment 6 was withdrawn by the parliamentary group which had
proposed it during the course of the deliberations.
The amendments proposed by the PDS parliamentary group, committee
printed paper 14/882, were rejected. The PDS parliamentary group
was outvoted by the other parliamentary groups, with the exception
of the FDP parliamentary group, which abstained.
The Bundesrat's bill, printed paper 14/763, was rejected by all the
parliamentary groups, with the exception of the CDU/CSU
parliamentary group, which abstained.
b) Amendments 1 to 6 proposed by the CDU/CSU parliamentary
group, committee printed paper 14/821, and the reasons for them are
worded as follows:
...
II. Reasons
1. The amendments introduced by the coalition parliamentary
groups are essentially proposed for the following reasons:
I. Article 1(Weapons Act)
1. § 1 subpara. 3
The first amendment in subparagraph 3 is a necessary addition to
the categories of handling, as the carrying of weapons or
ammunition on journeys into, through or out of the area of
application of the law is not simply a subcategory of the transfer
of weapons or ammunition; it is linked to different legal
consequences, and this separate category of handling must also be
taken into consideration in the amendments to Subsection 5.
The amendment of the last part of the sentence is linked to the
current legal situation and is intended to ensure conformity with
the definitions of manufacturing, modifying and repairing firearms
or ammunition as separate categories of handling (Annex 1, subpara.
2, no. 8.1 and no. 8.2), foregoing a general term.
2. ...
(further reasons for the proposed amendments are given in the
following part of the report)
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