Mandatory Reliability Check for Firearms License: Conflict Between Weapons Act Routine Review and Prior Annual Hunting Permit Verification

The Federal Administrative Court granted a hearing on the merits by admitting an appeal based on the fundamental legal significance of the dispute, leaving the lower court’s decision subject to final review. The case involves an administrative challenge to the necessity of a reliability check under § 4 Abs. 3 of the Weapons Act for a firearms license holder, where the check was conducted without a person-specific cause and only two years had elapsed since the last routine review. The decisive legal issue is whether such a mandatory reliability assessment is required when the individual had previously been issued or extended an annual hunting permit under § 17 Abs. 1 Satz 2 of the Federal Hunting Act, a process that itself typically presupposes a reliability verification that was not performed in this instance.