• In principle, you must be at least 25 years old.
  
  If you are under 25 years of age, you must submit a specialist medical or specialist psychological report/testimonial on your mental fitness to the relevant firearms authority. You must pay for the certificate yourself and send the original to the relevant firearms authority by post. A copy or e-mail will not be accepted.

For firearms up to caliber 5.6 mm lfB (.22 l. r.) for rimfire ammunition with a muzzle energy of the projectiles of 200 joules (J) or less and single-shot long guns with smoothbore barrels of caliber 12 or smaller, the minimum age of 18 years applies.

• You must prove that your collection is of cultural-historical or scientific-technical importance (need).
  
  You can provide proof, for example, by means of an expert opinion.
  
• You must be reliable in terms of weapons law.
  
  You can be assessed as unreliable in terms of 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 and you have not 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 be personally suitable.
  
  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 have passed the examination, you will receive a certificate for which weapons and ammunition you have acquired the expertise. If your collection does not contain any firearms capable of being fired, you may not be required to have firearms proficiency. This decision is made by the competent authority.
  
• 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 both the place of storage and the container in which you intend to store weapons and ammunition. In principle, you can use the following guidelines as a guide:

• Ammunition requiring a permit must be stored in a sheet steel cabinet/container with a swing bolt lock.
• 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.
  • In a gun cabinet with resistance grade 0 according to EN 1143-1 with a weight of 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.