Members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party are not allowed to own firearms under the country’s weapons law. The party is seen as a suspected extremist group.
The Düsseldorf Administrative Court ruled Monday that a married couple must surrender all of their firearms, dismissing a lawsuit filed by the couple over the revocation of their firearms license.
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency BfV has formally suspected the AfD of undermining the country’s democratic constitution, a move confirmed in May by an administrative court that dismissed an AfD lawsuit over the designation.
The couple has a large number of firearms – 197 weapons in the case of the husband and 27 weapons in the case of the wife – which they must now surrender or destroy. They are also required to give up all ammunition.
However, the court in Düsseldorf will allow an appeal against the decision due to the potentially important implications for other members of the political party.