Germany saw a rise in gun-related crime last year, according to statistics published by police on Friday.
According to the report, this involved approximately 35,800 violations of the Arms Act, which covers the production, sale, possession, storage and use of weapons and ammunition. That is 6.3% more cases than the previous year.
Another 563 violations — an increase of 4.3 percent — fell under a separate law regulating weapons of war, which requires specific government permits.
According to the information, in most cases it concerns the illegal acquisition, possession, carrying and import of weapons.
More gun crimes
According to the federal report, more crimes involving firearms were recorded in 2023 than the previous year, rising 6.7% to about 9,100.
“The number of cases in which a firearm was threatened increased by 8% and the number of cases in which a firearm was traded was 5.5% higher than in the previous year,” the BKA said.
Overall, however, the percentage of crimes involving firearms is very low: 0.15% of all statistically recorded cases.
Gas pistols illegally converted
According to the BKA, investigators focused in particular on the professional and illegal modification of gas pistols – replicas of weapons that fire blanks – mainly of Turkish make, as well as on the illegal manufacture of firearms.
In the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, for example, police seized 40 modified gas pistols in a truck coming from Turkey in June 2023.
Weapons for war zones
“For years, former war and crisis zones have been a source of firearms and their illegal trade,” the BKA report said.
“The Western Balkan countries in particular remain in the spotlight due to the high availability of firearms there, even more than 30 years after the end of the wars,” the report said.
Most of these weapons are smuggled via land routes. Organized, illegal smuggling of firearms from Ukraine to Germany has not yet been discovered, the BKA said.
High clearance rate
In 2023, the resolution rate for violations of the Firearms Act was around 92%, and for violations of the War Weapons Control Act it was over 83%.
According to the BKA, the high number of gun crimes is due to the fact that gun crimes only come to light during police checks. This means that the gun and the suspect are often found together.
