The possession of many different weapons is restricted or completely prohibited by law. The following is an overview for dealers as well as users and operators of trading platforms.

(Attention: the list does not claim to be complete! Information without guarantee!)

Weapons of war:

Weapons of war include all weapons that fall under the War Weapons Control Act.

Fully automatic firearms:

Most fully automatic firearms are weapons of war and thus actually included in the prohibition of weapons of war. Legally, however, in order to ensure completeness, this is again explicitly stated.

Fore-end repeating shotguns:

Fore-end repeating shotguns, so-called "pump guns" are prohibited if

• there is a short-barreled grip instead of the buttstock , or
• the overall length of the weapon in the shortest possible form of use is less than 95 cm, or
• the barrel length is less than 45.

Weapons disguised as other objects:

This prohibited group of items includes firearms and blank weapons alike. For example, pistols disguised as pens, telephones, or flashlights are included, as are daggers disguised as combs or sabers disguised as walking sticks or umbrellas.

Weapons that can be reduced in size, poacher's rifle

Weapons which can be further disassembled, folded, collapsed, or shortened than is customary for hunting or sporting purposes. The distinction between such a "poacher's weapon" and a permitted dismountable weapon (take-down rifle) is extremely troublesome in practice. In individual cases, a decision must be made by an appropriate specialized department of the LKA or BKA. Important indications as to whether an easily dismantled weapon is a prohibited object:

• The dismountable parts can be accommodated in the stock, which is correspondingly hollowed out to accommodate them.
• A manually operated cap nut with knurling for fastening the stock is a fairly reliable indication.
• On older weapons, a muzzle thread for a silencer may indicate that the rifle is a prohibited item. Silencers were uncommon in hunting until recently.

Multi-shot handguns in calibers less than 6.3 mm after 1970:

Multi-shot handguns built after 01/01/1970, whose caliber is less than 6.3 mm and whose propulsion is not fulfilled exclusively by the primer.

Steel rods

Steel rods are percussion weapons. Unlike billets, rods or tubes, they are flexible, for example due to a spring element. Steel rods can often be pushed together. They are usually weighted at the end, for example by a metal head. Rigid telescopic batons do not belong to steel rods, their possession is not prohibited, however, they may not be carried in public. The flexibility of steel rods is their essential element, as it increases the impact of the blow.

Deadbeat

Deadbeats are flexible objects such as rubber hoses, straps and ropes, where the end is weighted by metal or by equally hard and heavy material. The flexibility of the material has a reinforcing effect on the impact.

Brass knuckles

A knuckleduster protects the hand when striking with a fist. This allows striking with more force, as the risk of injury to the hand is reduced. In addition, brass knuckles are harder than hands - the blows are much harder.

On the other hand, gloves filled with quartz sand, often called "sand gloves," are not among the prohibited objects, but have been classified by the Federal Supreme Court as a dangerous tool within the meaning of §224 of the Criminal Code. The use of quartz sand gloves can thus be assessed as dangerous bodily injury.

Also processed everyday objects which fulfill the function of brass knuckles and are to be used as such fall under the prohibition.

Throwing stars

Throwing stars are prohibited in Germany since 2003. This includes both throwing stars with sharpened blades as well as uncut specimens. Throwing stars are best known for their prevalence in pop culture and are often referred to as "ninja stars".

Molotov cocktail

Molotov cocktail is the name given to various incendiary devices for throwing. Throwing them at people is legally considered an attempted homicide.

Irritant spraying devices without marking

Irritant sprays are devices used to spray irritant gas or pepper spray. An irritant spray device contains a can of spray as a charge, so it can be loaded with it. Accordingly, a spray can containing pepper spray is not an irritant spray device. Irritant spraying devices are subject to the ban if the official test mark of the Physikalisch Technische Bundesanstalt is missing.

Articles for inflicting injury with an energy other than mechanical:

These include, for example, electrical impulse devices, also known as "stun guns," unless they bear the appropriate mark of the Physikalisch Technische Bundesanstalt. This is required above all to certify that they are harmless to health. Distance electrical impulse devices such as "tasers," which transmit the electrical impulse through shootable electrodes or via a conductive liquid jet, are also prohibited.

Precision slingshots:

Precision slingshots are slingshots in which precision is provided by an arm rest and, if applicable, an aiming aid. Even if an arm rest is not attached, the ability to attach one to the slingshot is sufficient for it to be categorized as a precision slingshot.

Choke items:

A choke item, also known as "nun-chaku" or "choke wood" can be used in a variety of ways to attack (striking, clamping, choking, throttling) and is a prohibited item in Germany. It usually consists of two wooden sticks of equal length (about 30 cm), which are connected with a chain (about 15 cm long). Also for training purposes constructed "soft-nun-chakus", consisting of plastic tubes covered with foam, which are connected with a cord, fall under the ban, as well as all other variants.

Drop knives

In drop knives, the blade concealed in the knife handle falls out of the handle by gravity or centrifugal movement and then locks.

Switchblade knife

In the case of switchblade knives, the blade concealed in the handle is accelerated and locked in place by the release of a spring. Spring knives are exempt from the ban if they open from the side, have blades that are not double-edged, and protrude no more than 85 mm from the handle. Nevertheless, these knives are classified as weapons and their possession is allowed only from the age of 18. Carrying in public the permitted switchblade knives is a misdemeanor.

Fist Knife

A fist knife is a knife in which the blade is placed at a 90° angle to the handle. Thus, the handle is intended to lie across the palm of the hand, while the blade is exposed either between the middle and ring fingers or the middle and index fingers. This design allows for very small and compact knives. Due to their design, fist knives enable particularly precise and effort-saving cutting from the wrist and are therefore very popular with hunters and the like, and formerly also with furriers, for breaking open, skinning and cutting. Due to the handle position, especially in combination with a dagger blade, a powerful stabbing is possible, which is the reason for the prohibition.

Butterfly Knife

A butterfly knife is also known as a balisong and is a folding knife with two-piece, pivoting handles. The term balisong comes from Tagalog and is a compound of the two words balí ("break") and sungay ("horn"). The balisong originated in the Philippines and, according to legend, was a working knife for fishermen. Because of the characteristic flinging of the knife, it is used by criminals, like the switchblade knife for intimidation during robberies.

Hard-core bullets:

Hard-core bullets are armor-piercing and therefore may not be possessed by civilians.

Stun bullets:

Projectiles containing stun agents are covered by the ban if they are intended for offensive or defensive purposes.

Projectiles or cartridge ammunition containing irritants:

This ammunition is also prohibited provided it is intended for offensive or defensive purposes and does not bear an official mark of conformity.

Cartridge ammunition with sabot projectiles

Sabot ammunition is cartridge ammunition for firearms with rifled barrels whose projectiles are smaller in diameter than the field diameters of the associated firearms and are surrounded by a sabot and guide case that separates from the projectile after exiting the barrel. Original purpose of sabots: To make the bullet much faster than the usual ammunition of its caliber. However, the ban is justified by the fact that the projectiles of sabot ammunition have no barrel marks and can therefore no longer be assigned to the respective barrel. The ban is limited to ammunition for rifled barrels.

Cartridge ammunition with the following projectiles:

• Tracer bullets
• Explosive rounds (pyrotechnic ammunition intended for signaling)
• Incendiary bullets
• Hard core bullets

Small shot ammunition

Only "Grenaille" ammunition which can be fired from approved alarm guns.

Irritant spray can without approval mark

With approval mark from the BKA is allowed to carry without a firearms license. Only cans with CS and CM gas are subject to these regulations, pepper spray is not.

Ammunition intended for exclusive use in weapons of war.