Knife protests in Lower Saxony: Safety measures tightened at folk festivals!

Knife protests in Lower Saxony: Safety measures tightened at folk festivals!

Hannover, Deutschland - The discussion about knife bans in Lower Saxony picks up speed. Between November 24 and December 15, 2024, 28 violations of the newly introduced weapon ban zone were documented at the Christmas market in Hannover alone, the police reported. In view of an increase in knife attacks, especially among young people, the state government considers the situation to be alarming. Interior Minister Daniela Behrens emphasized that in Lower Saxony in 2023 over 3,000 knife crimes were recorded, which corresponds to a significant increase in 12 percent in adolescents and 18 percent among adolescents. This concern led to the tightening of the gun law, which has been in force since October 31, 2024.

Details of the new weapons right

As part of the so -called "security package", the weapons law was fundamentally changed. From then on, the management of knives at public events, including folk festivals and markets, is expressly prohibited. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that it was also possible to control the prohibitions. According to the new regulations, only very limited exceptions may apply to certain professionals or under special conditions. These changes were decided by the traffic light coalition, which met with consent in the other federal states. However, critics express concerns that the exemptions could hardly be tangible in practice and see the ban as a potential criminalization of legal citizens.

The new laws enable the state governments to ban weapons and knives in particularly crime -shaped areas. The general definition of "not ready to access" was also specified, which can lead to confusion among the citizens. These measures are intended to ensure a faster reaction to acts of violence after the knife attack in Solingen gave an alarming signal in August. Analyzes of the legal situation, however, show that the restrictive interpretations of the law could lead to a restriction of the rights of the citizens in practice, such as Knife-blog and ndr reported.