Overview

• Lawmakers are scheduled to decide today on a government bill widely expected to pass with support from the governing parties and others, with the FPÖ opposed.
• Key measures raise the minimum age to buy Category B firearms to 25 and Category C to 21, require a weapons possession card or pass for Category C, and impose roughly a one‑month wait before handover.
• Clinical‑psychological assessments would be mandatory at the first application and again after five years, with reliability checks every five years and improved data exchange among authorities.
• The draft expands the weapons law to cover launch devices for pyrotechnic signal cannons and banger cartridges, requiring those under 18 or under a weapons ban to surrender such devices within six months.
• Interior Minister Gerhard Karner calls it the biggest revision in three decades, some provisions would take effect immediately while others start in 2026, and parties split with the Greens seeking further safeguards and the FPÖ arguing the focus should be on illegal weapons.