A new court ruling in Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, bans Alternative for Germany (AfD) members from owning firearms. The judges from the Düsseldorf Administrative Court said their ruling was based on the classification of Germany’s domestic intelligence service, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), which listed the party as a “suspected” threat to democracy.
The case was initially brought by a married couple that owned over 200 firearms and held a legal permit to do so. Their permit was, however, revoked due to their membership in the AfD. The couple initially sued and lost this case. However, they have now also lost their appeal, as the court argues that members of the party are suspected of anti-constitutional activities and therefore “unreliable” based on current gun laws, according to the court.
The court’s ruling means the married couple must either hand over their firearms to the authorities or destroy them, as well as any ammunition. The husband owns 197 firearms, while the wife owns 27. However, the court is still allowing the case to move forward on appeal to the highest court in the state, the Münster Higher Administrative Court, “due to (the case’s) fundamental importance.”
According to the latest court ruling, the judges said that the ban on weapons for AfD members does not violate the party privilege provided for in Article 21 of the German constitution, known as the Basic Law.
Earlier this year, that same Münster court already confirmed the BfV’s classification of the AfD as a “suspected threat” to democracy after the AfD challenged this classification.
The BfV is a highly politicized intelligence agency targeting domestic “threats” to the constitutional order, while critics contend it is designed to snuff out political opposition. The agency is currently monitoring AfD members in a number of states, including tapping their phones and surveilling their internet communications, all without a warrant. Currently, their membership in the party offers enough legal grounds to target what is the second-largest party in the country.
It is unclear how the current ruling, if it is later affirmed by the higher court in Münster, will affect civil servants in the military and police forces who regularly handle firearms.
Despite the ruling in North-Rheine Westphalia, other state courts have come to different conclusions regarding the legality of AfD members owning firearms. Last year, the Gera Administrative Court ruled that the Thuringian Ministry of the Interior cannot revoke firearms licenses of AfD members in a blanket measure; however, it left the door open for individual cases.
