A German court has essentially outlawed the possession of firearms by any member of the Alternative for Germany (AFD) party.
Similar to Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in France, the right-leaning populist AFD has gained popularity despite a deliberate campaign of repression by the communist German elite, which aimed to outright outlaw, demonize, and outlaw the party.
The party was founded back in 2013 by free market economists who were furious about the EU’s bailout of Greece and other debtor countries and eager to bolster German sovereignty. The critique of mass migration, gender ideology, open borders, climate alarmism, Islamization, and Europe’s drift toward continental post-nationalism by the AFD’s members eventually drew the wrath of leftists.
“We believe in direct democracy, the rule of law, the separation of powers, a social market economy, federalism, family values, and Germany’s cultural heritage,” the AFD stressed in its 2017 manifesto.
It’s obvious that in recent years, Germans have started to connect with the party in some way. After all, in last month’s European parliamentary elections, the AFD easily defeated the establishment Social Democratic Party of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, gaining six seats and finishing second with 15.9% of the national vote. The party’s membership has increased by 60% since January 2023, according to Reuters.
The ruling class in Germany has made efforts to offset the AFD’s electoral victories.
A Bavarian court decided that the nation’s domestic intelligence agency could monitor a regional association of the AFD as a possible extremist group following the party’s impressive electoral performance last month. The party was already defined as a “right-wing extremist” organization in Saxony and Thuringia, among other German states.
Last week, activists on the left were successful in their petition to de-bank the AFD. Deutsche Welle reported that the Berliner Volksbank had acknowledged receiving the leftists’ petition and had closed the AFD’s donation account.
Not only will it be difficult for the AFD to raise funds, but it will also be challenging for them to raise guns for self-defense against the kind of vicious attacks that one of their politicians endured in early June.
“Participation in a party that is accused of engaging in anti-constitutional behavior frequently results in the assumption of unreliability.”
Membership in the AFD prohibits German citizens from possessing weapons, as revealed on July 1 by the 22nd Chamber of the Düsseldorf Administrative Court. This decision conflicts with another regional court’s finding from the previous year, which held that a member’s handgun license cannot be revoked only on the basis of suspicion of one of the party’s aspects.
A court release translated into English states that the chamber found that “even if the party has not been banned by the Federal Constitutional Court on the grounds of unconstitutionality, membership in a party accused of anti-constitutional actions regularly leads to the presumption of unreliability under the gun law.”
The case involved a married AFD couple who had their permits for a total of 224 weapons withdrawn. Since then, authorities have instructed them to surrender or destroy their weapons, along with any associated components or ammunition.
Article 21 from Germany’s Basic Law allows for the free funding of political parties, but it does not appear to guarantee any disadvantages for the parties deemed undesirable, according to the administrative court’s claim that its decision did not breach this provision.
Thanks to the administrative court, the pair appears to be able to appeal the ruling to the Higher Administrative Court in Münster.