The number of licences for ‘small weapons’ in Germany rose by 21,000 over the month of January, pushing the total number of papers held across the Federal Republic to 301,000.

The declaration of small weapon licences comes after a request by a Green Party member of parliament, who criticised German citizens’ decisions to invest in self defence as provocative. Green politician, security committee member, and former policewoman Irene Mihalic acknowledged the change was because of growing insecurity felt by the Germany people, reports Frankfurter Allgemeine, and said:

“Imagine that during major event like a carnival, if people acted rashly a weapon might only provoke chaos and violence… when more and more people carry weapons, it is more likely to contribute to escalation than calm situations”.

The small arms licences being issued now in such great number only cover firearms such as blank firing pistols, and deterrent self-defence pistols.

Rather than firing live shells, the gas guns which are indistinguishable from from their live-firing equivalents use an explosive propellant to fire a concentrated cloud of CS gas at an attacker. Once a licence has been acquired, there is no limit or checks on the acquisitions of these small guns, a “loophole” Ms. Mihalic has called to close.

The Green Party MP has also called for controls on simple self-defence articles such as pepper spray, of which there is a shortage across Europe as demand continues to outstrip supply.

The news of a national rise follows a number of independent declarations by individual German states and townships on their own meteoric rises in gun licence applications since the Cologne New Year’s Eve rape attacks.

Breitbart London has reported on the declarations of towns like Prignitz, where there were as many licence applications in January as the whole of 2015 combined, and of migrant-crime hit Flensburg where there were even more applications in January than the whole previous year. The owner of a local gun shop told media his new customers were afraid of becoming victims, and even police officers had come in to buy weapons for their wives and daughters.

The last town on the migrant route north through Germany to Denmark, the people of Flensburg have also taken it upon themselves to organise a citizen’s militia, which patrols the streets by night. The vigilante group claims its mission to provide reassurance to local citizens and merely detain any trouble makers until the police are able to arrive and place them under arrest.