Tobias Rathjen shot in Hanau Ten people and then himself – and was on the road with a borrowed weapon: According to SPIEGEL information, the 43-year-old borrowed a Czeska 75 Shadow, caliber nine millimeters, from a weapon dealer just two weeks before his deed. The SWR had previously reported on this.
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According to previous knowledge, the perpetrator had a racist outlook and was mentally ill. Nevertheless, he legally owned his weapons as a marksman. (Read here the SPIEGEL cover story on the topic.)
The borrowed Czeska was discovered by Hessian police officers according to SPIEGEL information after the crime in Rathjen’s car. He first drove to the crime scenes and then to his parents. Rathjen was able to borrow the weapon because he had a gun possession card as a marksman. The law provides that shooters can borrow a weapon for up to a month to test it.
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“Completely normal”
The arms dealer told SPIEGEL that he saw no reason to keep the pistol from Rathjen. Rathjen was dressed seriously and looked “completely normal”. His papers were in order. The assassin also had a Sig Sauer 226, 9 millimeter caliber, and a Walther PPQM2, .22 caliber for years.
The Hanau attack triggered a debate on German gun law. The Greens demanded stricter laws. Sports shooters should therefore no longer be allowed to take their weapons home. Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) announced one Examination of weapons law on. (Read here an analysis).
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The German Rifle Association rejects stricter rules, In a opinion it said, the German Waffenrecht is considered one of the “sharpest in the world”. Sports shooters were among the most controlled and at the same time law-abiding people.
The head of the Federation of German Criminal Investigators spoke in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin” against hasty discussions about tightening out. First everyone should wait, said Sebastian Fiedler, what the investigators really reveal and “maybe talk again”.
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