[Remix] 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 Dusseldorf 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."Threat to Democracy." Where might we have heard such a notion previously ?
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 Munster 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 Munster court already confirmed the BfV’s classification of the AfD as a "suspected threat" to democracy after the AfD challenged this classification.
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