GETTY Germany's far right have called for gun ownership

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The Afd has won growing support partly due to the European migrant crisis, which has seen more than one million arrive in the country over the past year. The chairwoman for the party, Frauke Petry, said: “Many people are increasingly feeling unsafe. Every law-abiding citizen should be in a position to defend themselves, their family and their friends.

GETTY Merkel has been blasted for her lenient migrant policies

“We all know how long it takes until the police can get to the scene, especially in sparsely populated places.” Germany has suffered four violent attacks in July and there have been various clashes between migrants and locals putting increasing pressure on Angela Merkel and her lenient migrant policies. Ms Petry sparked a debate earlier this year when she called for German police to be allowed to use firearms against illegal migrants.

Horrific axe attack on German train Tue, July 19, 2016 Three passengers have been seriously injured after a teenage refugee ran amok on a busy commuter train with an axe and a knife. Play slideshow EPA 1 of 10 Blood stains are seen on the regional train on which a man allegedly wielding an axe attacked passengers in Wuerzburg

She rejected calls to toughen up gun laws, saying this would affect respectable citizens and not those who acquire weapons in the so-called "dark net", which is only accessible via special browsers. Instead, she criticised "ruinous cuts" on police and said the state at lost its monopoly on the use of force in places.

GETTY The scene after the Munich attacks

Germany has some of the most stringent rules around gun control in Europe. Firearm owners must obtain a weapons licence for which applicants must generally be at least 18 years old and show they have they have a reason for needing a weapon. Nonetheless, sexual assaults on women in Cologne at New Year and three fatal attacks have added to the feeling of vulnerability and prompted Germans to stock up on scare devices. The number of Germans applying for so-called "small firearms license", which are required to carry around blank guns and pepper spray, jumped 49 percent in the first half of 2016 to 402,301, according to federal statistics. However, permits for firearms fell to 1.894 million as of the end of June compared to 1.898 million a year earlier. Chancellor Merkel has refused to blame her open door policy for a rise in terror attacks, claiming Islamic terrorism was already in the country. The Afd party was overjoyed when the UK voted to leave the European Union in June.