• You must be at least 18 years old (21 years old for certain weapons).
  
  If you are under 25 years of age, you may be required by the competent firearms authority to submit a specialist medical or specialist psychological report/testimonial on your mental fitness. You must pay for the expert opinion/testimony yourself and send the original by mail to the competent firearms authority. A copy or e-mail will not be accepted.
  
  As a sport shooter, you must be at least 18 years old. Then you are entitled to acquire and possess firearms up to caliber 5.6 mm lfB (.22 l. r.) for ammunition with rimfire ignition with a muzzle energy of the projectiles of no more than 200 joules (J) and single-shot long guns with smoothbore barrels of caliber 12 or smaller, provided that the other legal requirements concerning firearms are met.
  
  For other firearms, the minimum age for sport shooters is 21 years.If you have not yet reached the age of 25, you must submit a medical or psychological certificate of mental fitness to purchase other firearms. This restriction does not apply to applicants who already hold a weapons permit as a hunter (§ 13 WaffG). You must pay for the expert opinion/certificate yourself and send the original to the relevant weapons authority by post (a copy or e-mail will not be accepted.).
  
• You must prove that you are a member of a recognized shooting sports club (need).
  
  In order to be allowed to acquire and possess weapons and ammunition, you must provide the responsible weapons authority with a credible reason (need). As a rule, a credible reason is recognized if you have been a member of a sports club for 1 year, which is a member of a recognized shooting sports association and in which shooting with such weapons is permitted according to an approved shooting sports regulation. The shooting sport regulations are approved by the Federal Office of Administration. In addition, you must prove that you have regularly participated in training (at least once a month or at least 18 times within a year).
  
• You must be reliable in terms of weapons law.
  
  You can be considered unreliable under weapons law if, among other things
  • you have been legally sentenced to a prison term of at least 1 year within the last 10 years or have been a member of or supported a prohibited organization within the last 10 years.
  • it can be assumed that you misuse or improperly handle weapons or ammunition, do not keep these objects carefully or hand them over to persons who are not authorized to do so.
  • you have been in preventive police custody more than once in the last 5 years with judicial authorization due to violence.
  • You have repeatedly or grossly violated the weapons law.
    
• You must have the personal suitability.
  
  You can be assessed as personally unsuitable if, among other things
  • you are legally incompetent.
  • You are addicted to alcohol or other intoxicating substances, are mentally ill or debilitated.
  • you suffer from serious illnesses, such as brain injuries, or physical impairments, such as amputations or severe visual impairment.
  • it can be assumed that you are not able to handle weapons or ammunition carefully or properly or that there is a concrete danger that you will endanger others or yourself.
    
• You must prove that you have sufficient knowledge about weapons and ammunition and how to handle them (expert knowledge).
  
  In order to obtain the expertise in handling weapons and ammunition, you must attend a corresponding training course. The course includes a theoretical and practical part. At the end of the course, you will take an examination before an authorized examination board. If you pass the exam, you will receive a certificate for which weapons and ammunition you have acquired the expertise. You can also obtain the expertise only for the weapons and ammunition that you wish to acquire and possess.
  
  You do not have to take a separate examination if you have
  • the hunter's examination or an equivalent examination, or
  • have passed a journeyman's examination for the gunsmith's trade or
  • have been working full-time for at least 3 years in the trade of firearms and ammunition.

In these cases, you only need to provide suitable evidence.

• You must prove that you can safely store weapons and ammunition.
  
  This generally means that only you, as the authorized person, have access to weapons and ammunition, for example by carrying the key with you at all times. If you do not store your weapons and ammunition securely, you commit an administrative offense for which a fine of up to 10,000 EUR can be imposed. In addition, your reliability under weapons law may be called into question and your weapons possession card may be revoked.
  
  When applying, you must provide information on the place of storage as well as on the container in which you intend to store weapons and ammunition. In principle, you can use the following guidelines as a guide:
  • In order to store long guns and handguns requiring a permit as well as ammunition requiring a permit, you need a gun cabinet. The type of gun cabinet you need depends on the number and type of weapons and/or ammunition you want to acquire and possess.
  • You must prove that you can safely store weapons and ammunition.
    • In a gun cabinet with resistance grade 0 according to EN 1143-1 weighing up to 200 kilograms, you may store an unlimited number of long guns, up to 5 handguns, and ammunition.
    • In a gun cabinet with resistance grade 0 according to EN 1143-1 with a weight of more than 200 kilograms, you may store an unlimited number of long guns, up to 10 handguns and ammunition.
    • In a gun cabinet with resistance grade 1 according to EN 1143-1, you may store an unlimited number of long guns and handguns as well as ammunition.
  • The following regulations generally apply to the place where you may install the firearm cabinet:
    • If you live in an apartment building, you are not allowed to place the gun cabinet in the basement if each resident has only one so-called basement locker, which is only secured by a door with a padlock.
    • You are allowed to store up to 3 long guns in buildings that are not permanently inhabited, such as a hunting lodge or a weekend house. However, for this you need to store a gun cabinet with resistance grade 1.
    • If you live in the same household as another gun owner, you may store the guns in a joint gun cabinet.
  • It is also permitted to store weapons and ammunition with a weapons dealer. You must provide appropriate proof of this.