Green Party Demands More Speed in Tightening Gun Laws

Julia Herr, first deputy chairwoman of the club, stated that a meeting of the Interior Committee should take place before the end of the parliamentary recess. In addition, the new gun laws should also be applied to recent purchases. She expressed concerns that it is easier to acquire a weapon in Austria than to obtain a bicycle license. According to Herr, access to weapons in Austria is particularly easy compared to the EU, which is problematic.

Tightening of the Gun Law: Greens Demand "Real Change of Course"

For the new proposal, the Interior Committee was made permanent over the summer months. "In fact, it has not met even once to this day. And the announced draft law? Non-existent except for media announcements," criticized Alma Zadić, deputy club chairwoman and justice spokesperson for the Greens, and Agnes-Sirkka Prammer, security policy spokesperson for the Greens, in a statement. "The urgently needed legislative amendment still means: please wait. Apart from media announcements, absolutely nothing has happened so far. The 'permanent Interior Committee' also turns out to be a PR stunt."

The Greens demanded "a real change of course - away from freedom for weapons, towards freedom from weapons," emphasized Zadić. An effective gun law means: weapons only where they are really necessary. And even then, there needs to be close psychological checks and regular controls of safe storage. The issue of returning illegal weapons has also received too little attention in Austria. "Illegal weapons do not disappear by themselves. Other countries have successfully shown how low-threshold return programs can work - Serbia, for example, with 100,000 returned weapons. But Austria still has no low-threshold program with real incentives," said Prammer.

(APA/Red)

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