Waffenschein and Kleiner Waffenschein in Germany: The § 8 WaffG Bedürfnis Test Explained

The German word Waffenschein is used loosely in everyday speech to mean any kind of gun licence. In the Waffengesetz it means one specific thing, and confusing it with the two documents next to it is the single most common misunderstanding of German weapons law.

The statute separates owning from carrying. A Waffenbesitzkarte is an authorisation to acquire and possess. A Waffenschein under § 10 Abs. 4 WaffG is an authorisation to führen, meaning to have the weapon under one's control in public. The kleiner Waffenschein is a much narrower carrying authorisation limited to a defined group of Schreckschuss-, Reizstoff- und Signalwaffen.

The reason those three documents behave so differently is a single provision: § 8 WaffG, the Bedürfnis requirement. It is the hinge of the whole permit system, it applies in full to a Waffenschein, and it is expressly switched off for the kleiner Waffenschein.

This page sets out what each document covers, what § 4 WaffG requires in general, how § 8 WaffG is structured, which categories of applicant the statute names, and which restrictions continue to apply even where a permit exists.

Information last verified on 20 July 2026. This page provides general legal information and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case.

Three documents, three different questions

The first step in reading German weapons law is to notice which verb a provision uses. § 2 Abs. 2 WaffG makes the Umgang with the weapons listed in Anlage 2 Abschnitt 2 subject to a permit, and the statute then splits that permit into different instruments depending on what is being authorised.

The distinction between the first two is where most confusion starts. § 10 Abs. 1 WaffG grants the authorisation to acquire and possess weapons through a Waffenbesitzkarte or by entry in an existing one, while § 10 Abs. 4 WaffG grants the authorisation to carry through a Waffenschein. Going out in public with a lawfully possessed weapon is therefore a separate act requiring a separate authorisation, and the conditions attached to that second authorisation are markedly heavier.

The general conditions in § 4 Abs. 1 WaffG

§ 4 Abs. 1 WaffG lists five conditions that a permit requires. The applicant must have reached the age limit in § 2 Abs. 1 WaffG, which is 18. The applicant must possess the required Zuverlässigkeit under § 5 WaffG and persönliche Eignung under § 6 WaffG. The applicant must show Sachkunde under § 7 WaffG. A Bedürfnis under § 8 WaffG must be established. And in the cases covered by § 10 Abs. 4 und 5 WaffG, meaning a Waffenschein and an Erlaubnisschein zum Schießen, § 4 Abs. 1 Nr. 5 WaffG requires proof of liability insurance cover of one million Euro.

Those five conditions are cumulative. Each is defined in its own section, and each is examined separately by the competent Waffenbehörde, which is a Land authority rather than a federal one.

§ 8 WaffG: the Bedürfnis test

§ 8 WaffG is short and unusually explicit about its own structure. A Bedürfnis is established where, as against the interests of public safety and order, two things are made credible.

The first limb is a particularly recognisable personal or economic interest, and the statute names the categories: above all as Jäger, Sportschütze, Brauchtumsschütze, Waffen- oder Munitionssammler, Waffen- oder Munitionssachverständiger, gefährdete Person, Waffenhersteller or Waffenhändler, or Bewachungsunternehmer. The second limb is the Geeignetheit und Erforderlichkeit of the weapons or ammunition for the purpose applied for.

Both limbs matter, and the second is the one that does most of the work in practice. Belonging to a named category is not enough on its own, because the statute also asks whether the specific weapon is suitable and necessary for the specific purpose. That is why the sporting and hunting provisions below tie the authorisation to a discipline or to the exercise of the hunt rather than to a general status.

The standard of proof is worth noticing too. § 8 WaffG uses glaubhaft gemacht, a lower standard than full proof, applied against the weight given to public safety and order on the other side of the balance.

The categories the statute names

Jäger, § 13 WaffG

§ 13 Abs. 1 WaffG recognises a Bedürfnis for holders of a valid Jagdschein where it is made credible that the firearms and ammunition are needed for the exercise of hunting or for training in hunting shooting, and where the weapons comply with federal hunting law.

§ 13 Abs. 2 WaffG then removes part of the examination for holders of a Jahresjagdschein in respect of Langwaffen and two Kurzwaffen. § 13 Abs. 3 WaffG goes further for Langwaffen falling under Absatz 1 Nr. 2, which may be acquired without a prior permit, with the statute requiring the holder to apply to the authority for a Waffenbesitzkarte within two weeks of acquisition.

Sportschützen, § 14 WaffG

§ 14 Abs. 1 WaffG departs from the general age rule in § 4 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 WaffG and sets 21 as the age for a permit for the purpose of sporting shooting. § 14 Abs. 2 WaffG recognises a Bedürfnis for members of a Schießsportverein that belongs to a Schießsportverband recognised under § 15 Abs. 1 WaffG.

§ 14 Abs. 3 WaffG attaches the substance: twelve months of membership with active practice of the sport, and evidence that the weapon to be acquired is admitted and necessary for a discipline under the Sportordnung of the shooting association. § 14 Abs. 4 WaffG adds a continuing activity requirement, expressed in the statute as having practised the sport in the club with an own permit requiring weapon at least once a quarter, or on at least six occasions within twelve months, during the 24 months before the Bedürfnis is examined.

Gefährdete Personen, § 19 WaffG

This is the provision people are usually looking for when they ask about a Waffenschein for self-protection, and it is the reason the answer is narrow. § 19 WaffG recognises a Bedürfnis where the person shows that they are exposed, through attacks, to a danger to life or limb substantially greater than that facing the general public, and that acquisition and possession of the weapon and ammunition is suitable and necessary to reduce that danger.

For carrying outside the person's own dwelling or business premises, § 19 WaffG requires the same conditions to be made out in relation to that external situation as well. A generalised sense of insecurity does not engage the section, because the comparison built into it is with the general population rather than with a subjective threshold.

The kleiner Waffenschein

The kleiner Waffenschein is created by the last sentence of § 10 Abs. 4 WaffG, which states that the conditions for granting an authorisation to carry Schreckschuss-, Reizstoff- und Signalwaffen are set out in Anlage 2 Abschnitt 2 Unterabschnitt 3 Nr. 2 und 2.1.

That entry in the Anlage is headed as an authorisation to carry without proof of Sachkunde, Bedürfnis and Haftpflichtversicherung, meaning without the conditions in § 4 Abs. 1 Nr. 3 bis 5 WaffG, and Nr. 2.1 identifies the weapons concerned by reference to Unterabschnitt 2 Nr. 1.3. The conditions that remain are the age limit in § 2 Abs. 1 WaffG, Zuverlässigkeit under § 5 WaffG and persönliche Eignung under § 6 WaffG.

The weapons themselves sit outside the permit requirement for acquisition and possession. Anlage 2 Abschnitt 2 Unterabschnitt 2 Nr. 1.3 WaffG exempts Schreckschuss-, Reizstoff- und Signalwaffen that either comply with the approved design under § 8 des Beschussgesetzes and bear the Zulassungszeichen described in Anlage 1 Abbildung 2 zur Ersten Verordnung zum Waffengesetz vom 24. Mai 1976, or comply with the rules of another EU member state notified to the Commission under Art. 4 Abs. 2 der Richtlinie (EU) 2019/69. Cartridge ammunition for those weapons is exempted in the following entry.

The structure is therefore the opposite of what many readers assume. Owning such a weapon is not what the document is about. Carrying it is.

Zuverlässigkeit, Eignung and Sachkunde

§ 5 WaffG defines Zuverlässigkeit negatively, by listing who does not have it. Absatz 1 covers people convicted of a Verbrechen or of an intentional offence with a sentence of at least one year, and certain terrorism related offences with a sentence of 90 or more Tagessätze, where ten years have not passed since the conviction became final. It also covers people in respect of whom facts justify the assumption that they would handle weapons abusively or carelessly, would not keep them carefully, or would hand them to unauthorised persons.

§ 5 Abs. 2 WaffG then lists cases in which Zuverlässigkeit is as a rule absent, including certain convictions within the last five years, membership within the last ten years of an association banned under association law or of a party found unconstitutional, pursuit of unconstitutional aims within the last five years, repeated police preventive detention for violent conduct within five years, and repeated or serious breaches of weapons legislation.

§ 6 WaffG deals with persönliche Eignung. Absatz 1 excludes people where facts justify the assumption of legal incapacity, dependence on alcohol or other intoxicants, mental illness, or concerns about careful handling. § 6 Abs. 3 WaffG adds a requirement specific to younger applicants: a person who has not yet reached the age of 25 must, for a first grant of an authorisation to acquire and possess a firearm, produce a medical or specialist psychological certificate of mental suitability at their own expense.

§ 7 WaffG treats Sachkunde as established by passing an examination before the designated body, or by demonstrating it through an occupation or training. The detailed requirements for the examination are left to a Rechtsverordnung.

A worked comparison of the two carrying documents

Setting the same five conditions of § 4 Abs. 1 WaffG against the two documents makes the difference concrete.

The validity periods differ in the same direction. § 10 Abs. 4 WaffG limits a Waffenschein for firearms to at most three years for specified firearms, extendable twice by up to three years each, which is a maximum of nine years of continuous validity before the question is reopened, and it requires the period to be set shorter where only a temporary Bedürfnis is shown. It also requires the geographic and occasion based scope to be limited unless a Bedürfnis going beyond that has been shown, so the document is not by default a nationwide, all purpose authorisation.

What a permit does not switch off

Holding a permit does not remove the carrying prohibitions that operate independently of it. § 42 Abs. 1 WaffG provides that a person taking part in öffentliche Vergnügungen, Volksfeste, Sportveranstaltungen, Messen, Ausstellungen, Märkte or similar public events may not carry weapons within the meaning of § 1 Abs. 2 WaffG, with the exceptions dealt with in the later Absätze of that section.

§ 42b WaffG applies a further prohibition in vehicles of the öffentlicher Personenfernverkehr, again with exceptions referenced from § 42 WaffG and a possibility of consent from the transport undertaking. The knife side of the same 2024 amendments, and the way local transport is left to Land legislation, is set out on the page about knife law in Germany.

For the other topics in this area see the German criminal law overview, and for the wider guide to German law see Germany.