Austria to Tighten Gun Control Rules after School Shooting
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Austria plans to tighten its gun control rules after a 21-year-old man killed 10 people then killed himself in the country’s worst school shooting by far, the conservative-led government said on June 18.
The gunman, a former pupil at the school in the southern city of Graz, owned the two firearms he used in his rampage –a shotgun and a Glock pistol– legally, Reuters reported.
Under the current rules, the shotgun can be bought by any adult who has not been banned from owning weapons, after a wait of three working days.
The Glock requires a gun permit, for which one must be 21 or over and pass a psychological test.
After a cabinet meeting, the government said it would raise the minimum age for a gun permit to 25 from 21, make the psychological test more stringent and increase the “cooling off phase” for all weapons to four weeks.
The school shooter, identified by Austrian media as Arthur A., failed the psychological test that is part of the screening for military service, but the armed forces are not currently allowed to share that information.
The government plans to ensure such information is shared and taken into account in applications for gun permits, it said in a statement issued after the press conference.
The government said it planned to introduce a separate gun permit for those under 25 that would apply to the category of weapons that includes the shotgun the shooter used, but a spokesman said details were still being ironed out.
