Germans Stock Up on Weapons for Self-Defense
The scramble to acquire weapons comes amid a nationwide spike in migrant-driven crime, including rapes of German women and girls on a shocking scale.
Germans Stock Up on Weapons for Self Defense
Soeren Kern | Gatestone Institute | December 21, 2015
Germans, facing an influx of more than one million asylum seekers from Africa, Asia and the Middle East, are rushing to arm themselves.
All across Germany, a country with some of the most stringent gun-control laws in Europe, demand is skyrocketing for non-lethal self-defense weapons, including pepper sprays, gas pistols, flare guns, electroshock weapons and animal repellants. Germans are also applying for weapons permits in record numbers.
The scramble to acquire weapons comes amid a migrant-driven surge in violent crimes — including rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults — in cities and towns throughout the country.
German authorities, however, are going to great lengths to argue that the German citizenry’s sudden interest in self-defense has nothing whatsoever to do with mass migration into the country, despite ample evidence to the contrary.
In recent weeks, German newspapers have published dozens of stories with headlines such as: “Germany is Afraid — And Grabs for the Weapon,” “Germans are Arming Themselves: The Demand for Weapons Explodes,” “More and More People are Buying a Weapon,” “Security: Hands Up!” “The Need for Security Increases,” “Boom in Weapons Stores,” and “Bavarians are Arming Themselves— Afraid of Refugees?”
Since Germany’s migration crisis exploded in August 2015, nationwide sales of pepper spray have jumped by 600%, according to the German newsmagazine, Focus. Supplies of the product are now completely sold out in many parts of the country and additional stocks will not become available until 2016. “Manufacturers and distributors say the huge influx of foreigners in recent weeks has apparently frightened many people,” Focus reports.
