Kleinen Waffenschein beantragen

If you want to carry license-free firearms, such as alarm guns, irritant weapons and signal weapons with approval marks of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), in public, you need a small firearms license.

If you have a small firearms license, you may use a weapon without a permit, such as alarm guns, irritant weapons and signal weapons with approval marks of PTB in the circle, outside

• your own home,
• the company's own business premises,
• of one's own pacified property (e.g. garden) or
• a shooting range

wear concealed. However, they are not allowed to carry these weapons at public events.

A distinction is made between firearms subject to authorisation and firearms. License-free firearms include:

• firearms firing cartridge ammunition (alarm weapons),
• firearms that fire irritants or other active substances (irritant weapons),
• Firearms that fire pyrotechnic ammunition (signal weapons).

You can recognize license-free weapons by the registration mark "PTB" in a circle. All weapons subject to authorisation are counted that are not alarm shot, irritant and signal weapons with PTB signs in a circle. A detailed list of weapons for the purchase and possession of which you need a gun ownership card (WBK) can be found in Annex 2 of the Weapons Act.

However, you also need a firearms license if you want to carry compressed air, spring-loaded weapons and CO₂ weapons with less than 7.5 joules, which are marked with an "F" mark, in public. The use of these weapons in fenced areas, for example for paintball activities, does not require permission.

In general, firearms are objects intended for attack or defence, signalling, hunting, distance injection, marking, sport or play, in which projectiles are driven through a barrel or in which solid bodies are deliberately fired, whose propulsive energy can be introduced by muscle power or another source of energy and stored or held by a locking device (for example, crossbows, Arrow launchers).

It is recommended that you inform yourself in detail about the regulations of the weapons law before applying.

The small firearms license is indefinite.

If you carry a weapon without a permit, you must be able to identify yourself with an identity card or passport as well as the small gun license.

The small gun license can be denied if you have not lived in Germany within the last 5 years.

If you move to another city or town, you do not have to have the small gun license rewritten.

If you handle weapons and ammunition illegally, you face a fine or imprisonment.

• Identity card or passport (copy)
• Proof of storage (e.g. photo of the sealable container)

To obtain the small gun license, you must

• be at least 18 years old,
• Your reliability in terms of weapons law,
• Your personal suitability as well as
• the safe storage of weapons and ammunition

prove.

Reliability of weapons

Among other things, they can be assessed as reliable in terms of weapons law,

• if you have not been finally sentenced to at least 1 year's imprisonment within the last 10 years and have not been a member of or supported a prohibited organisation in the last 10 years.
• if you cannot be assumed to misuse or improperly handle weapons or ammunition, store these items carefully or leave them to persons who are not authorised to do so.
• if you have not been in preventive police custody more than once in the last 5 years with judicial authorisation for violence.
• if you have not repeatedly or grossly violated the gun law.

Personal suitability

Among other things, you may not be considered personally suitable if:

• You are legally incapacitated.
• You are dependent on 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 cannot handle weapons or ammunition carefully or properly or that you cannot store these items carefully or that there is a real risk that you will endanger others or yourself.

You must apply for the small firearms licence at the competent weapons authority. Submit the application together with the required documents.

The weapons authority will issue you with a small firearms license if you meet the necessary requirements.

• Permission to carry alarm shots, irritant and signal weapons with approval mark of PTB – small weapons license issuance
• Small firearms license for concealed carrying of a weapon without a permit outside
  • of your own apartment
  • of our own business premises
  • of one's own pacified property (e.g. garden)
  • a shooting range
• no wearing at public events
• License-free firearms are
  • firearms used to shoot cartridge ammunition (alarm weapons),
  • firearms used to shoot irritants or other active substances (irritant weapons), or
  • Firearms used to fire pyrotechnic ammunition (signal weapons).
• Weapons without a permit marked with the approval mark "PTB"
• Transport of a firearm without a permit without the small firearms license only if the weapon
  • is not loaded (not ready to fire) and
  • is in a locked container (non-accessible)
• Carrying a weapon without a permit only with
  • identity card or passport and
  • the small firearms license
• Permission is valid indefinitely
• Preconditions:
  • Minimum age: 18 years
  • No criminal record (reliability under weapons law)
  • No legal incapacity, mental illness or dependence on drugs (personal suitability)
  • Storage of weapons in a sealed container
• When moving: no re-registration of the small firearms license necessary
• Responsible: Weapons authority

Weapons Authority