Austria has decided to tighten the gun laws following a deadly school shooting in Graz.
According to Reuters, the conservative-led government on Wednesday announced that it is planning to strengthen gun control measures after a 21-year-old killed 10 people and then himself in the worst school shooting incident in the country.
Last week a gunman in the southern city of Graz used a legally owned shotgun and Glock pistol to kill 10 people at his former high school.
Austria vows ‘not to go back to business as usual’ after school shooting:
Following a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the government said that it plans to raise the minimum age for a gun permit from 21 to 25, strengthen the psychological evaluations and extend the "cooling off phase" for all weapons to four weeks.
Chancellor Christian Stocker told a joint press conference along with the leaders of the two other parties in the ruling coalition, “We ... promised that we would not go back to business as usual and that we would draw the right conclusions from this crime to live up to the responsibility we have. Today's cabinet decision shows that we are fulfilling that responsibility.”
Austria currently has a relatively relaxed policy on firearm purchases as compared to the other European countries.
Under the currently implemented rules, any adult who is not banned from owning a weapon could buy a shotgun after a wait of three working days, while for the Glock, anyone aged 21 or over requires a gun permit and must pass a psychological test.
