Why was a young man in Austria able to buy a rifle with ammunition and a bayonet, even though a weapons ban was imposed against him only last year? This question and possible consequences have been the subject of debate in the neighboring country since a teenager from the state of Salzburg, who had just turned 18, drove to Munich with such a weapon on Thursday, apparently to carry out a terrorist attack on the Israeli Consulate General and a Nazi documentation center.
The debate is overshadowed by the election campaign: at the end of this month, the parliament in Vienna will be re-elected, and all the initiatives that have now been made can hardly be implemented before a new government is formed, at least when it comes to new laws. The Greens, junior partners in a coalition with the Christian Democratic ÖVP, called on Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) in the newspaper “Der Standard” to “present significant tightening measures, including a general ban on the private sale of weapons”. The ÖVP, in turn, reiterated its demand that the police be allowed to monitor messenger services under court supervision in order to be able to better control dangerous individuals.
Private gun sellers do not have to check buyers
Last Thursday, the thwarted Munich assassin fired nine shots from a 100-year-old Swiss military carbine before he was killed by a hail of police bullets. He had purchased the weapon, including bayonet and 50 rounds of ammunition, from a private collector the day before via an online platform for a total of 400 euros. The repeating rifle falls under neither category A (generally prohibited war weapons) nor B (purchase only with a license, such as pistols or semi-automatic weapons), but C (purchase and possession free, but only carry with a gun license).
In 2023, the young Austrian with Bosnian roots was investigated on suspicion of terrorist propaganda, but without result. However, a weapons ban was imposed on him until 2028. This meant that he would not have been allowed to buy the old rifle either. Unlike a gun shop, however, the private seller was not obliged to check this and to retain the weapon for at least three days after the deal was concluded.
According to a spokesman for the Bavarian State Office of Criminal Investigation, investigators in Munich have questioned around 100 witnesses about the crime. No further clues have yet been found to support the investigators’ “working hypothesis” that the 18-year-old Austrian shooter was motivated by Islamist or anti-Semitism. They hope to gain more information by analyzing the cell phone that was damaged in the shootout with the police. It is still unclear how much data can still be read.
