The gun scene in Germany today

In a low-ceilinged room in west Berlin, a gunman steadies himself, aims and fires. The noise is startling even through sizeable ear protectors, but he doesn’t flinch before pulling the trigger again. Despite the Magnum revolver he looks like an off-duty lawyer, which he is, down to his shiny brown brogues.

Next to him, firing a similar weapon at the cardboard targets 25 metres away, is a ginger-bearded mechanic in a baseball cap. It is practice night at Kleinkaliberschützen Berlin (Small Calibre Shooting Club Berlin, or KKS), and an eclectic handful of men — the one woman present doesn’t appear to move out of the common room — have come to take part in one their country’s favourite pursuits. To British ears, guns plus Germany means wartime armies or dramatic shooting sprees, particularly in the wake of last month’s school massacre and this week’s bloody gun attack in a Bavarian courthouse. But guns are part of the national culture, and their appeal stems from the centuries-old hunting, sporting and back-to-nature traditions of German life rather than the more recent penchant for militarism.

There are more than 15,000 gun clubs in Germany with around 1.5 million members, not to mention the legions of hobby hunters. There are roughly 10 million legally-held guns and perhaps double that in unregistered weapons, making it the fourth-largest civilian firearm-holding nation in the world behind the US, India and China, according to the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey. Every summer Schuetzenfest, or shooting festivals, take place in towns and villages across the country and in some places are the centrepiece of the civic calendar. But guns are now, in the wake of recent events, under scrutiny.

The lawyer, who requested that only his first name Roman is used, gives a thumbs-down to indicate that he is not happy with his performance.

Others have been similarly displeased about the backlash that gun clubs have faced since Tim Kretschmer, who learned to shoot with his father at such an institution, opened fire at his former school in Winnenden in March and claimed 16 lives including his own. An open letter from the victims’ parents helped reopen an emotional national debate about gun laws. After a registered gun club member killed his sister-in-law and himself during a row in a courthouse in Bavaria on Tuesday, the state premier offered his own pledge to re-examine the rules. A day later, another 59-year-old Bavarian man shot his ex-wife dead before turning the gun on himself.

Members of KKS do not think that the gun ownership laws, which they argue are very strict already, are to blame. Thomas, a ponytailed bank worker who started shooting with his policeman father at the age of eight, said: "You cannot stop this by forbidding legal weapons. It’s the same when young men die in cars at fast speeds. It’s not the car, it’s the person who can’t drive it."

Here they do everything by the book. Roman has his own air pistol, which he brought to the club in a padlocked case, but having joined in summer 2007 he has not yet fulfilled the stipulated 18 visits to the club that form one of several preconditions to buying his own Magnum, and so he must use one held at the clubhouse.

However, Wolfgang Nietsch, the club’s 74-year-old chairman, is sceptical that the rules are always adequately enforced by the state authorities.

"It is the law that you have to keep your guns in a locked cabinet but the police don’t have enough time or manpower to make sure," the retired pipe-layer and owner of 15 guns said. "One policeman said to me that they know 90 per cent of the cabinets are not adequate." Mr Nietsch has been attending gun clubs since 1968, when a damaged ear drum put an end to his competitive swimming. His daughter, now middle-aged, was a champion shooter as a teenager, and he is worried that not enough young people are taking up the hobby. The minimum age for membership of KKS is 12 — Mr Nietsch thinks that children should begin shooting even younger than that with the right supervision and training — but there are no juveniles among the club’s 80 members and relatively few young adults.

Roman, who at 36 is one of them, thinks that the more traditional aspects of some clubs are putting younger people off. "I like this club because you can concentrate on shooting," he said. "It is a sport. People train regularly and the club’s teams do well in competitions." The costumes, bands and marching associated with Schuetzenfest life "are not attractive to younger people," he said.

Nevertheless, gun clubs and shooting remain immensely popular. The Marksmen’s Association is the fourth biggest sporting organisation in Germany and, particularly in a general election year, few politicians are likely to risk alienating its members.

After a school shooting in Erfurt in 2002 left 17 dead, Germany tightened its laws and raised the minimum age for gun ownership to 21. In the wake of Winnenden, Angela Merkel called for a relatively modest change — spot checks to make sure weapons were being stored correctly — but a month later things have already gone quiet. Mr Nietsch has his own thought on what the reason for that is: "The law won’t change because 60 per cent of MPs are hunters." Thomas, the bank worker, seems confident that the gun club’s place in German life will long outlive the turbulent aftermath of the recent shootings. Such tragedies are "not good for the discussion," he said, "but the next issue will come along soon."

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CA: Man shot, in custody after robbery: "One man was shot and three others remain on the run after a victim in a home invasion robbery fired a gun at their fleeing car. According to the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office, deputies responded to a residence on the 1400 block of Harden Drive in McKinleyville early Sunday afternoon after receiving a report of a home invasion robbery. At about 12:25 p.m., sheriff's deputies responded after residents of the home called 911. The three occupants reported they heard a knock at the door, and upon answering the door, three black males, all adults, shoved their way into the house, the sheriff's office reported. The three suspects allegedly stole marijuana from the victims and fled the house, authorities said. As they attempted to drive away, one of the victims fired a weapon toward the vehicle. An additional witness reported seeing a total of four suspects in the fleeing vehicle. A short time later, a local hospital reported they were treating a man for gunshot wounds. Witnesses at the hospital reported seeing three men flee from the car after dropping off the injured man at the hospital, the sheriff's office reported. The men were seen running into a field near Pacific Union Elementary School."


SC: Robbery suspect killed at AA meeting place: "A robber who walked into the Columbia downtown Alcoholics Anonymous center, pulled out a gun and demanded money was killed in a burst of gunfire from an AA visitor’s gun, police said. “Gimme what you got,” witnesses quoted the robber as saying when he entered the AA building at 2015 College St. in Five Points about 10:48 p.m. Saturday. They said he brandished a .25-caliber handgun. At that point, as one AA visitor dropped something on the floor — possibly his wallet — another AA visitor pulled out his own pistol and shot the robber “multiple times,” police said. Kayson Helms, 18, of Edison, N.J., was pronounced dead at Palmetto Health Richland at 11:24 p.m. Saturday. The AA visitor who fired his weapon and killed the suspect had a concealed weapons permit, police said."


Piracy: The Free Market Solutions: "What did the captain and crew of the Maersk Alabama have in common with the victims of the Binghamton murders? Both were unarmed and defenseless against evil. In the Binghamton case, this probably had to do with the fact that government offices, such as immigration services centers, tend to be no-gun zones. In the case of the commercial ship, the reasons are more complex... If the Maersk Alabama had been armed, there are ports in the world that would not have allowed it to dock. Its mere presence would constitute a security risk.... For a fee, private firms who specialize in protective services, will protect your ship. Depending on the policy you purchase, they may put armed guards on your ship or, if for any number of reasons you don't want to do that, you can take out a fancier and more expensive policy and they will escort you with a convoy of armed boats through pirate infested waters. The latter sort of policy would solve the unable-to-dock problem. You can rendezvous with your guard boats at a pre-arranged point and part with them after passing through the dangerous waters, at which point their check will presumably be in the mail."