The possession of firearms is currently considered a mere misdemeanour, carrying a prison sentence of between six months and five years. The Senate’s Interior and Justice departments want to change this; they have now proposed a law that would see illegal firearm possession become a crime. They hope this will help curtail gun violence in the city, as not only will harsher penalties (from one to ten years in prison for organised trafficking) deter criminals, but the ‘felony’ classification would allow law enforcement to wiretap
suspects, thus helping find and dismantle gangs. The move comes as gun violence is on the rise in Berlin. Last year saw over a thousand recorded cases of firearm use in the city; shootings appear to happen at least weekly. Roughly half of these are related to extortion by the Turkish mafia, while the other half involves personal, family and clan conflicts. Last November, the police have established special task forces ‘Ferrum’ and ‘Telum’ tasked with combating the increasing instances of gun violence. During recently
conducted raids, they managed to secure dozens of firearms – but that’s still just a drop in the ocean. Berlin has a thriving illegal market for firearms, many of which come here from Czechia. Semi-automatic pistols are particularly widespread, as they can easily be concealed yet are able to fire many shots in a short period of time.
Berlin, Senate, gun violence, illegal firearm possession, misdemeanour, felony, wiretapping, Turkish mafia, Ferrum, Telum, Czechia, organised trafficking