181 suspected right-wing extremists had their weapons licenses revoked in 2022 or returned them after pressure from the authorities. This emerges from a response from the federal government to a request from left-wing MPs, which the editorial network Germany reported on and which has already been published by the Bundestag.
Accordingly, at the end of 2022, a total of 1,051 suspected right-wing extremists and around 400 so-called “Reich citizens” and “self-administrators” were known to have at least one weapons license. Final figures for the past year are not yet available.
In an earlier answer, the government had named 1,561 right-wing extremists and around 500 “Reich citizens” and “self-administrators” with weapons permits at the end of 2021. However, she had also pointed out at the time that the numbers were constantly varying, among other things, due to the “continuous updating of corresponding data sets in the files of the constitutional protection authorities”.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution attributes around 23,000 citizens to the scene
The government writes that since the establishment of the “Reich Citizens” and “Self-Administrators” phenomenon area in November 2016 until December 31, 2022, around 1,125 weapons licenses have been revoked. “Reich citizens” are people who do not recognize the Federal Republic and its democratic structures. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution counted around 23,000 people across Germany in 2022 as belonging to the “Reich Citizens” and “Self-Administrators” scene.
In view of the figures, left-wing MP Martina Renner told the RND that “concrete action by the authorities against armed Nazis and Reich citizens” was needed. It is dangerous that the federal government “is not advancing the necessary measures in gun law and is in danger of failing.”
In January last year, after the New Year’s Eve riots and the exposed coup plans of a “Reichsbürger” group, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) presented an internal draft for tightening gun laws. The FDP has so far rejected any changes to gun law and is instead focusing on better enforcement of the current law.
