Members or supporters of the regional branch of the «Alternative for Germany» (AfD) party in Saxony-Anhalt may lose their gun permits. This decision was made by the Higher Administrative Court of Saxony-Anhalt.
The court emphasized that the state must protect society from «extraordinary dangers associated with weapons» and is not obligated to wait until crimes are committed or harm is done. Instead, the state can minimize risks in advance. According to a court spokesman who spoke with the news agency dpa, the authorities that issue gun permits now have a legal basis for revoking them from AfD members. The decision has entered into legal force, and according to the spokesman, the only possible way to appeal is to file a constitutional complaint.
For several months, interior ministers have been looking for ways to disarm «enemies of the constitution», and many authorities consider AfD members to be such. In this specific case, the relevant police inspectorate revoked the gun permits of three individuals who are allegedly members or supporters of AfD in Saxony-Anhalt. All three appealed this decision. However, the Higher Administrative Court of Saxony-Anhalt refused to grant leave to appeal against the decision of the Administrative Court of Magdeburg.
Legal grounds for revoking permits
Thus, it is now definitively established that the plaintiffs, as members or supporters of the regional AfD branch, «do not have the necessary reliability to possess weapons». A gun permit is a legally provided permit for handling, possessing, or carrying weapons in Germany. A person is considered unreliable under weapons legislation if they support an association that engages in anti-constitutional activities. The court clearly stated that this provision can apply to both regular members of AfD in Saxony-Anhalt and active supporters of the party.
The plaintiffs unsuccessfully referred to the «privilege of the party» in the Basic Law, emphasizing that negative consequences for gun permits due to party affiliation should only occur after the party is officially banned by the Federal Constitutional Court. Additionally, they denied that AfD in Saxony-Anhalt has an anti-constitutional orientation.
Criteria for anti-constitutional activity
However, the Higher Administrative Court of Saxony-Anhalt ruled that to assess whether a party pursues anti-constitutional goals, it is necessary to consider the «general perception of the party». This perception is «largely shaped by the statements of leading representatives, officials, and individual subunits», the court noted. The court also stated that if an association views people of foreign origin or Muslim faith as inferior, incapable of integration, or as a threat to the preservation of a supposedly biologically organic people and advocates for their general exclusion, this constitutes a violation of the universal principle of human dignity.
Also, the systematic discrediting of state institutions and democratic processes, as well as the constant comparison of them with regimes that violated the law, goes beyond permissible criticism and constitutes an attack on the principle of democracy.
Source: Der Spiegel
