Overview
- The Cabinet has greenlit a draft bill to procure up to 10,000 Tasers with an initial €5 million annual budget starting in 2025.
- The legislation explicitly positions Tasers between batons and firearms, stipulating that pistols remain the ultimate last-resort measure.
- Federal tests since 2020 involved around 200 trained officers carrying devices in over 40,000 operations, with threats of use 132 times and actual deployments in 16 cases.
- Police unions GdP and DPolG back the expansion as a life-saving de-escalation tool, while the German Lawyers’ Association urges strict limits on shock duration and frequency due to health risks.
- The draft now moves to the Bundestag where lawmakers will debate detailed usage rules and cardiovascular safety safeguards before final approval.