Bundesportal | Apply for red gun permit for weapons or ammunition experts

Preconditions

You must be at least 18 years old.

If you are under 25 years of age, you will be requested by the relevant firearms authority to submit a specialist medical or specialist psychological report/testimonial on your mental fitness. You must pay for the certificate yourself and send the original to the relevant firearms authority by post.
You must provide credible evidence that you work as a weapons and/or ammunition expert and require firearms or ammunition for scientific or technical purposes, for testing, appraisal, examination or for a similar purpose (need).

You can provide proof of this, for example, by means of a certificate of activity.
You must be reliable in terms of weapons law.

You can be considered unreliable under weapons law if, among other things
- you have been legally sentenced to a prison term of at least one year within the last 10 years or have been a member of or supported a prohibited organization within the last 10 years.
- it can be assumed that you misuse or improperly handle weapons or ammunition, do not store these items carefully or hand them over to persons who are not authorized to do so.
- you have been in preventive police custody more than once in the last 5 years with judicial authorization due to violence.
- You have repeatedly or grossly violated the weapons law.
You must be personally suitable.

You can be assessed as personally unsuitable, among other things, if
- You are legally incompetent.
- You are addicted to alcohol or other intoxicating substances, mentally ill or debilitated.
- you suffer from serious illnesses, such as brain injuries, or physical impairments, such as amputations or severe visual impairment.
- it can be assumed that you are not able to handle weapons or ammunition carefully or properly or that there is a concrete danger that you will endanger others or yourself.
You must prove that you have sufficient knowledge about weapons and ammunition and how to handle them (expert knowledge).

In order to be able to prove your expertise in handling weapons and ammunition, you must have taken part in a corresponding course. The course comprises a theoretical and practical part. At the end of the course, you will take an examination before an authorized examination board. If you pass the exam, you will receive a certificate for which weapons and ammunition you have acquired the expertise.
You must prove that you can safely store weapons and ammunition.

This generally means that only you, as an authorized person, may have access to weapons and ammunition. If you do not store your weapons and ammunition safely, you commit an administrative offense for which a fine of up to 10,000 EUR can be imposed. In addition, your reliability under weapons law may be called into question and your weapons possession card may be revoked.

When applying, you must provide information on both the storage location and the container in which you intend to store weapons and ammunition. The storage requirements are based on Section 13 of the General Weapons Act Ordinance (AWaffV). In case of doubt, please contact the authority responsible for you. In principle, you can orientate yourself on the following specifications:
- You must store ammunition requiring a permit in a sheet steel cabinet/container with a swing bolt lock or an equivalent locking device.
- To store long guns and handguns requiring a permit, you need a gun cabinet. Which gun cabinet you need depends on the number and type of weapons and/or ammunition you wish to acquire and possess.
  - In a gun cabinet with resistance grade 0 according to the DIN/EN 1143-1 standard with a weight of up to 200 kilograms, you may store an unlimited number of long guns, up to 5 handguns and ammunition.
  - In a firearms cabinet with resistance grade 0 in accordance with the DIN/EN 1143-1 standard with a weight of over 200 kilograms, you may store an unlimited number of long guns, up to 10 handguns and ammunition.
  - In a gun cabinet with resistance grade I according to the DIN/EN 1143-1 standard, you may store an unlimited number of long guns and handguns as well as ammunition.
- The following regulations apply in principle to the place where you may install the firearm cabinet:
  - If you live in a common household with another person who is also entitled to possess weapons, you may store the weapons in a common weapons cabinet.
- It is also permitted to store weapons and ammunition with a weapons dealer. You must provide appropriate proof of this.

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