North Rhine-Westphalia - AfD members must hand in weapons
Members of the AfD party must hand over their firearms according to a recent court ruling. The Administrative Court of Düsseldorf made this decision in two proceedings. The court found that members of a party suspected of constitutional subversive activities, in accordance with the Weapons Act, should be classified as unreliable, and dismissed the lawsuits of two AfD members whose gun ownership permits had been revoked (Az.: 22 K 4836/23 and 22 K 4909/23).
The plaintiffs, a married couple, were thereby obliged to surrender or destroy their firearms – in the case of the husband, 197 weapons, and in the case of the wife, 27 pieces – along with the corresponding ammunition.
Administrative Court Orders Firearms Ban for AfD Members
The AfD had been designated as a suspected case of constitutional subversive activities by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The Higher Administrative Court of North Rhine-Westphalia in Münster confirmed this classification on May 13.
The Administrative Court of Düsseldorf allowed the appeal against these judgments, which the Higher Administrative Court of North Rhine-Westphalia was to decide upon.
The married couple, residing in North Rhine-Westphalia, appealed the firearms ban decision made by the Higher Administrative Court, but their appeal was denied by the Administrative Court of Düsseldorf due to the AfD's classification as a suspected case of constitutional subversive activities according to German weapons law. Following this ruling, the married couple was required to surrender or destroy their collective 224 weapons and corresponding ammunition.
Despite the AfD party's objections, the Administrative Court of Düsseldorf upheld the weapons law, citing the party's status as a suspected case of constitutional subversive activities, thereby enforcing the gun surrender for all AfD members in North Rhine-Westphalia.
