In a recently viewed German publication that talked about an increase in civilian carry permits, this picture showed up with ammo. Does anyone know what it is?
https://imgur.com/a/HkDRmq1

9mm blanks made by Umarex/Walther:

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https://imgur.com/a/HkDRmq1

Look like 9mm Blanks from this photo:

https://www.fusil-calais.com/e...a-blanc-20-cart.html

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Originally posted by fquico:
In a recently viewed German publication that talked about an increase in civilian carry permits, this picture showed up with ammo. Does anyone know what it is?
https://imgur.com/a/HkDRmq1

Is that a real Walther in the picture? The barrel looks like it's plugged or something.

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Originally posted by PASig:

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Originally posted by fquico:
In a recently viewed German publication that talked about an increase in civilian carry permits, this picture showed up with ammo. Does anyone know what it is?
https://imgur.com/a/HkDRmq1

Is that a real Walther in the picture? The barrel looks like it's plugged or something.

its a blanked barrel

Unless the Germans have tightened their laws since 2014 - the blank-firing pistols can be purchased even by Americans with just a passport. I lived there from 1998 to 2014; during that time they had Sport Shooter, Collector and Hunting License categories. None of those permits (WBK) allowed for carrying except when hunting. There was another category for armed security guards and such. Either way, maybe they've seen the light given the recent influx of foreigners.

I sincerely doubt it. You are very limited in self defense over there. I was in the military police and worked a joint patrol with the polizei and asked about the subject, I was told lethal force really isn’t an option in self defense over there unless you’re a cop

That looks to be a P22. Converted to use blanks?

The article is referring to what is called the "Kleine Waffenschein", which allows to carry blank firing guns.
These guns, mainly made by Umarex, are lookalikes of actual guns.
And since it is Umarex, Walther models like the P22, P99 and PPQ are heavily featured.

These guns are however not converted, but their own design and structurally completely different.

You can also use tear gas cartridges in some models of the blank firing pistols. We've had a gentleman bring one of the blank firing pistols to our MWR range. If I hadn't seen the ammo, I would have sworn he had a real pistol, it was a Beretta 92 replica.

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Originally posted by Gocad:
The article is referring to what is called the "Kleine Waffenschein", which allows to carry blank firing guns.

Carry blank guns? For what purpose?

Is it more geared towards something like propmasters transporting blank firearms between movie/TV show sets?

Or do they actually expect folks to rely on carrying a blank-firing pistol as a defense or deterrent, with the hope that merely brandishing something that looks like a gun, or making a loud gunshot-like noise, will scare away bad guys?

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Originally posted by CD228:
You can also use tear gas cartridges in some models of the blank firing pistols. We've had a gentleman bring one of the blank firing pistols to our MWR range. If I hadn't seen the ammo, I would have sworn he had a real pistol, it was a Beretta 92 replica.

This is what I first thought of. A lot of folks carried them while I was in GE. I was working security at a club when I first saw one. Had the Frau open her purse and a pistol was staring at me, she reached for it and I kinda freaked, I grabbed it first and asked just what in holy hell she thought she was doing. Turned out to be a tear gas gun

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Originally posted by RogueJSK:

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Originally posted by Gocad:
The article is referring to what is called the "Kleine Waffenschein", which allows to carry blank firing guns.

Carry blank guns? For what purpose?

Is it more geared towards something like propmasters transporting blank firearms between movie/TV show sets?

Or do they actually expect folks to rely on carrying a blank-firing pistol as a defense or deterrent, with the hope that merely brandishing something that looks like a gun, or making a loud gunshot-like noise, will scare away bad guys?

Ditto all the above. This is so anathema to our philosophy of carry here I have trouble getting me head wrapped around it.

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Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Or do they actually expect folks to rely on carrying a blank-firing pistol as a defense or deterrent, with the hope that merely brandishing something that looks like a gun, or making a loud gunshot-like noise, will scare away bad guys?

That was common during my five years there. We’d occasionally get reports that some semi-bad guy was carrying a gun, and it always turned out to be a tear gas or blank-firing gun—usually the former. We should keep in mind that there are countless Americans who don’t understand the concept of meaningful self-defense measures as well: “I don’t want to hurt anyone; I just want to scare them.” And that’s in a country where most of us can have effective weapons if we want. Couple that attitude with being restricted by law from owning firearms for defensive purposes and I guess having something that might scare off an attacker has some appeal.

Yep, it is next to impossible to get a "Waffenschein" which is a concealed carry permit in Germany. While living there, I became good friends with a gunsmith/gun dealer who was one of about 10 people in a city with a population of 600,000 who had one. And even though he had the Waffenschein, he could only concealed carry IF he were transporting other firearms. So, he always had another firearm in his vehicle, and could always show that he was indeed transporting a gun! As a side note, one time when I was registering a gun I bought at the office in the police station in that city which handled matters relating to guns, I asked the guy on duty how many firearms were registered there, and he said "about 30,000".

My hunch is that within 20 years, many Western European countries are going to mimic the situation that was common here in the USA a half a century ago.

In those days, most states banned or severely restricted concealed carry as crime went thru the roof. Folks started carrying illegally and the law was slow to catch up.

The legal, demographic and societal issues in Europe seem to me to be predictive of this pattern being repeated. Whether Euro nations will respond with liberal carry laws is another issue, but the current president in Brazil ran on loosening carry laws and apparently that was a popular policy. Not sure if it will be legislated.