Overview
- The case challenges a July regional decree that, on an exceptional basis, permits municipal officers to use rifles or shotguns and to deploy expanding ammunition.
- Interior cites Article 149.1.26 of the Constitution and Royal Decree 137/1993, arguing local police are limited to short firearms and that expanding rounds are reserved to specially authorized bodies or narrowly defined situations.
- Government sources say the text would allow each mayor to approve long guns in exceptional cases, which they contend conflicts with the national weapons framework and the need for uniform standards.
- Madrid’s security chief Carlos Novillo brands the move a political attack, citing reported long‑gun use by local police in other regions and the current level‑4 anti‑terror alert as justification for the rule.
- The dispute has been lodged with the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Madrid following Interior’s filing, and the court has not yet ruled.