Here's a related story:
[url]www.pstripes.com/dec00/ed121500j.html[/url]
Friday, December 15, 2000
Army suggesting that personal
weapons be left stateside for now
By Jon R. Anderson
Stars and Stripes
HEIDELBERG, Germany — Spc. Christy Johnstone doesn’t know what she and her husband are going to do with their 9 mm handgun.
Right now it’s locked in their 1st Infantry Division arms room, but under new rules set to go into effect Jan. 1, 2001, owning a gun in Germany without a German weapons permit will be illegal.
"We’re not touching it," says Johnstone, as she and her husband try to figure out how to deal with what’s quickly shaping into a problem for thousands of troops throughout Germany.
Until now, all troops had to do was register their privately owned weapons through their unit vehicle registry. As of New Year’s day, however, the process will become much more involved. And even then, there’s no guarantee that they will be issued a permit card.
That’s why as of Sept. 26, all incoming troops have been ordered to leave their weapons in the States until they can get a permit. But for the some 6,000 soldiers, sailor and airmen who reported to Germany before then and still have weapons here in Germany, things are about to get sticky.
In a letter signed by the Army’s top general in Europe Oct. 18 and mailed to all military gun owners in Germany, Gen. Montgomery Meigs ordered troops with their own guns to get the permit. Knowing the process takes time, Meigs has given his approval for troops to store their weapons in unit arms rooms or local Rod and Gun Clubs if there’s room. He’s also allowing troops to keep their weapons at their homes, if necessary.
While the general is doing what he can to help troops through what has become a legal mess, officials concede the approval is a violation of German law.
"Technically, it is illegal," said Meig’s spokesman Jim Boyle. The Army, he said, has been wrestling with the issue for more than a year now and has had trouble smoothing over many of the details with local German officials.
"There are problems with all this for which we have no solutions yet," Boyle said.
The general’s approval, however, will do little to protect soldiers if they are caught by German officials with weapons and no permits. And the penalties are stiff: up to five years in jail and six to 12 months of their wages in fines.
That’s why the 1st Infantry Division commander ordered his troops to mail weapons back to the States if there’s no room at local arms rooms or Rod and Clubs. Handguns must be sent by a registered arms dealer; long rifles can be sent through the mail with prior arrangement with the postal service. And after Jan. 1, 2001, getting the gun to the dealer or the post becomes problematic for those without a permit.
Still soldiers like Johnstone will be in a bind when it comes time to transfer back to the States if they’re not able to get their German gun permits by then. Without it, they won’t be able ship their firearms out with the rest of their household goods.
"I don’t know what we’re going to do," said Johnstone. "Hopefully, they’ll have this whole policy straightened out by then."
-Troy