Germany plans to toughen its gun laws following a suspected conspiracy by a far-right group to violently overthrow the government and install a minor royal as national leader, the interior minister said in an interview published on Sunday. .
Last week, German police arrested 25 people suspected of involvement in the plot, which has shocked many in one of Europe’s most stable democracies. Many of the suspects were members of the far-right “Reichsbuerger” (Citizens of the Reich) movement, which denies the existence of the modern German state, according to prosecutors.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, in an interview with the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, warned that the Reichsbuerger posed a growing threat to Germany as it expanded from 2,000 to 23,000 people last year.
“These are not harmless lunatics, but terrorist suspects who are now in pre-trial detention,” Faeser said.
Prosecutors said the suspects included individuals with guns and knowledge of how to use them. They tried to recruit current and former army members and stockpiled weapons.
“We need all authorities to exert maximum pressure” to remove their guns, Faeser said, which is why the government “will soon further tighten gun laws.”
Prior to the attacks, authorities had already confiscated weapons from more than 1,000 Reichsbuerger members. However, at least another 500 are believed to have firearms licenses in a country where private ownership of firearms is rare.
Source: CNN Brasil
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