A major flaw with insisting that problems can be solved by passing laws is that when those woes fail to yield to legislation, there’s a temptation to further fill the law books. We can see that in Germany, a country with strict weapons laws and tight identification requirements, where politicians are responding to an August attack at a festival in Solingen with proposals for knife controls and biometric surveillance. Given that the country’s already restrictive laws didn’t deter a terrorist from committing violence, it’s not clear why more laws would finally do the trick. But regular Germans will certainly suffer the results.
“Leading German government politicians on Thursday came up with a package of security measures that aim to prevent a repeat of the deadly knife attack in the western city of Solingen last week, in which three died,” German state-owned media outlet Deutsche Welle reported at the end of August.
The suspect is a 26-year-old Syrian man who was denied asylum and ordered to leave the country; he didn’t. He “is believed to have links with the terror group ‘Islamic State’.” Basically, he’s not a law-abiding guy. In fact, the suspect, who was arrested after the attack, offers strong evidence that laws only define penalties to be imposed for committing forbidden acts; they don’t prevent those acts.
Stopping Terrorism With Knife Controls and Mass Surveillance?
Nevertheless, German politicians propose “a package of security measures” including bans on knives at festivals, sporting events, and other public gatherings, a ban on knives on long-distance trains and buses, and on switchblade knives. Where knives would still be permitted, the legal length would be limited to 6 centimeters, down from 12 centimeters. And rules for weapons licenses would be tightened.
Would a terrorist described as a “soldier of the Islamic State” who “carried out the attack in revenge for Muslims in Palestine and everywhere” be deterred by stern signs forbidding carrying knives at festivals? They probably wouldn’t have as much impact as hoped on a homicidal fanatic.
“If you’re looking for the benefit in terms of preventing knife crime, then I would say that it has no benefit,” scoffed Dirk Baier, a criminologist at the Institute of Delinquency and Crime Prevention in Zurich. He said people who carry knives will continue to do so, legally or not.
Also proposed is wider use of biometric data, including automated scanning of publicly available photos, audio files, and video on platforms including social media. Any online information would be considered fair game for German authorities to grab and match against data from protests, crimes, suspects, or those on watch lists.
“The government’s plans undermine fundamental rights, violate European law, and walk back the coalition parties’ own promises,” cautions Svea Windwehr of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
In fact, the biometric component of the security package was already in the works and just got a boost from the Solingen attack. Cynics should note Windwehr’s point that the coalition government is keen on expanding mass surveillance even though it was elected in part on a promise to curb such practices.
Already a Tightly Regulated Country
Keep in mind that Germany is not a lightly regulated country as it is. Its weapons laws are notoriously restrictive, including intrusive licensing laws for possessing firearms. As a result, the supply of legal weapons is relatively small—but overshadowed by those possessed illegally.
“Germany has some of the world’s strictest gun laws,” The Washington Post‘s Rick Noack noted in 2016 after a shooting spree committed with an illegal pistol. Nevertheless “there are millions of illegal weapons in Europe, but…it is impossible to know exactly how many.”
The Geneva-based Small Arms Survey took a crack at the numbers in 2003. It estimated that there were 7.2 million legally possessed and registered firearms in Germany, but between 17 million and 20 million illegal guns.
Likewise, knives are already regulated under a complex set of rules including outright bans, restrictions on knives that can be owned but never carried in public, and those legally acceptable for public use. Whether these laws are obeyed is between Germans and the contents of their pockets.
Germany also has significant public monitoring and identification requirements. Anybody over the age of 16 “shall be required to possess an identity card once they have reached the age of 16 and are subject to the general registration requirement,” according to the Federal Ministry of Justice.
That card is used to, among other things, register Germans with authorities whenever they move. “To register, you have to go to the registration authority of your municipality and present a valid ID card, passport or passport substitute document and a certificate issued by the person providing the residence,” urges the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community.
In addition, murder is illegal in Germany, no matter whether a terrorist’s weapon of choice was otherwise banned or permitted.
More Laws Won’t Impress People Who Don’t Obey Laws
All this to say, the Solingen terror attack suspect apparently defied a deportation order, evaded Germany’s residence registration law to avoid detection and remain in the country, and then went to a festival with homicidal intent, ultimately killing three people and injuring many more. It’s difficult to imagine what sort of magically powerful new laws would have caught his attention and turned him from his chosen path of committing mayhem.
More likely to be affected are regular Germans arrested while harmlessly peeling an apple on a train. Also caught up will be those who receive knocks on the door because they participated in a protest—or because an algorithm concluded they looked like someone on a watchlist. Laws don’t deter people who set out to harm others, but they have serious consequences for entire populations that suffer under ever-tightening rules, with ham-handed application and indifferent or abusive enforcers.
Germany’s hapless coalition government, which was always ideologically incoherent and now flounders to regain its footing as populists peel off support, is frantically trying to look effective on something. Being politicians, German lawmakers picked a high-profile issue that worries people around which to legislate. Never mind the proposed laws wouldn’t touch terrorists and would hurt ordinary people.
Very few problems are susceptible to resolution by grandstanding politicians threatening the population with new penalties. That’s true in Germany and everywhere else.
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