Confiscation at Lake Zug German weapons collector imported war material
In 2020, the Zug cantonal police seized various items of World War II material from a German weapons collector. He wanted it back and took the matter to the Federal Supreme Court.
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- When a German gun enthusiast moved to Switzerland from the Saarland, he imported his collection of war material without obtaining a permit from the authorities.
- The Zug cantonal police confiscated the weapons in 2020 and the Zug public prosecutor's office issued a penalty order.
- The German wanted to get the material back, but was turned down by both the Zug Administrative Court and the Federal Supreme Court.
- All he gets back are a few cutting and stabbing weapons from the knightly era.
Four assault rifles, fourteen submachine guns, a grenade launcher and a mine launcher with three grenades: This is the arsenal that the Zug cantonal police found at the home of a German resident on Lake Zug in 2020.
The material dates back to the two world wars and is attributed to German troops. The owner of the collection told the Tagesanzeiger newspaper that all the weapons had been manipulated by a gunsmith so that they could no longer kill.
Penalty order ignored
The weapons collection was nevertheless a thorn in the side of the Zug public prosecutor's office, as the man had not declared the material when he moved here from the German state of Saarland.
The weapons were confiscated and in 2021 a penalty order was issued against the German for negligent violation of the War Material Act and multiple negligent violations of the Weapons Act.
According to the Tagesanzeiger, the man was not aware that he had been convicted. Although he had received a letter from the public prosecutor's office, he had not perceived it as a penalty order. He did not lodge an appeal and the penalty order became legally binding.
In the penalty order, the Zug public prosecutor's office stated that there was a risk of misuse of the seized material. It ruled out the possibility of restitution. However, no information was given on the sentence, as reported by the Tagesanzeiger newspaper.
"Decoy weapons unfit for shooting for collector's purposes"
After being unsuccessful at the Administrative Court in Zug, the German appealed to the Federal Supreme Court to challenge the decision. The highest Swiss court had to decide whether the material could be returned to its former owner or whether it should be destroyed or recycled.
The man argued that they were "decorative weapons unsuitable for shooting and were only used for collecting purposes". According to the Tagesanzeiger, he had the relevant certificates for the collection worth around CHF 100,000.
As with the Zug Administrative Court, the German was also unsuccessful in the Federal Supreme Court and must now also pay the court costs of CHF 2,000.
However, there is one small consolation for the German. He will get back various cutting and stabbing weapons, such as lifting bards, from the knightly era - "the only objects with which you could still injure someone today", the weapons enthusiast told the Tagesanzeiger newspaper.
Not the first visit from the police
Incidentally, the man was already used to visits from the police in Saarland. In 2009, the German police confiscated explosives, boxes of ammunition, the remains of several bombs as well as fragmentation bombs, machine gun barrels and live ammunition from his home.
According to the "Tagesanzeiger", this emerges from a paper by a left-wing monitoring center, which at the time assigned the gun nut to the right-wing extremist scene. The German told the Swiss newspaper that he was not right-wing extremist.
