[cuchulainn]

from Reuters

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L02199670.htm02 Jul 2003 12:11:28 GMT

German teenager shoots self dead, wounds teacher

MUNICH, Germany, July 2 (Reuters) - A 16-year-old boy killed himself with a handgun in a German school after shooting a teacher who tried to wrestle the weapon away from him, police said on Wednesday.

The teenager took out the handgun during a biology class at his school in Coburg, south Germany, sending his teacher and fellow students running from the classroom in panic, police said.

A second teacher approached the student, trying to seize the gun, when the weapon fired off a shot which hit her in the leg.

The student then shot himself dead, police said.

The wounded teacher was treated in hospital, but no other injuries were reported. There were no details about the boy's possible motive.

Germany was shaken last year when a student shot and killed 16 pupils and teachers before killing himself at a school in the eastern city of Erfurt in the country's worst postwar shooting spree.

Germany tightened its strict gun control laws following the Erfurt shooting but there are still close to eight million legally held weapons in the country -- roughly one for every 10 people.

[trooper]

The kid took the guns from his dad who's an active competition shooter. Now everybody is blaming the gun instead of the owner who didn't lock it up or the school/family who couldn't provide a stable environment for its child/student.

This could be another dangerous blow to the already threatened legal gun ownership in Germany. Everytime such things happen somebody is bound to scream "Ban all firearms!"

Erfurt and its aftermath was the worst thing ever happened to German shooting sports.

Nobody cares about the fact that some years ago a student in the Saxonian town of Meissen killed his much-hated teacher with a kitchen knife.


Regards,

Trooper

[Skunkabilly]

Too bad many Germans are about as stupid and logically challenged as too many Americans :( (see how much we have in common w/ our European brothers and sisters? :D )

[trooper]

Yeah... stupidity is SO multicultural ;)

Maybe we could ship all of our collective tree-huggers and veggie-taliban to a far away place where they would finally be able to live together in peace without their evil, violent neighbours... a place like... hmmm, Antarctica?


Regards,

Trooper

[Mark Tyson]

I thought that some strict new laws were enacted in Germany in the wake of Erfurt.

[willyjixx]

an they got the columbine jokes for us...........

be the better person i guess

[Ledbetter]

Stupidity is mulitcultural, but feeds on itself. I'm sorry this happened not just because of the potential effect on already restrictive laws.

The teacher that tried to stop the shooter is made of stern stuff. Get well soon.

[fallingblock]

and there surely will be squeals from the "guns are evil" people to ban them in Germany.:uhoh:

trooper, if you get those tree-huggers and veggie-taliban on a shuttle to Antarctica, have them stop by Australia and pick up their bretheren for the new colony, O.K.?:D

[trooper]

I thought that some strict new laws were enacted in Germany in the wake of Erfurt.

Yup. You can only own a gun if you prove a "need" for it. Your "need" must be agreed on by your shooting association, but only organizations with more than 10,000 members are recognized as such. Usually only "needs" that are related to hunting and shooting sports are accepted.

You can't normally own more than two handguns unless you prove that you really need another one for an acknowledged shooting sports discipline in which you're actively and regularly participating with promising results. :rolleyes:

When you apply for a firearms permit (which allows you to own weapons and take them to the range but not to carry) you have to prove that you regularly trained for at least 12 months in a shooting club which is a member of a recognized association.

Combat-oriented training is only allowed for CCW holders which are extremely rare. The law even differentiates between defensive training (in which you're supposed to defend yourself against an immediate threat) and tactical training (which according to the regulations also teaches you how to attack your enemy, and is for LE/military only).

IPSC has been successfully saved from their grips, but IDPA is a big no-no.

People under 25 yrs who want to buy a large-calibre (e.g. .32 and bigger) handgun need to present a psychological assessment that they can be trusted with weapons.

Someone pointed out how ridiculous this is because there are a lot of younger LEOs who carry a gun daily (including me). The solution was - of course - to exempt LEOs from this requirement...

These are just the couple most outstandingly stupid rules...

But we won't give up.


Regards,

Trooper

[MarkDido]

Germany: "German teenager shoots self dead, wounds teacher"

I want to know how he managed to wound the teacher AFTER he died?