Eyes closed and push through

The security package was passed after seemingly endless discussions. For the coalition government, the past weeks have been primarily one thing: another embarrassment.

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In the end, it all came to nothing. Once again, the traffic light coalition, consisting of the SPD, Alliance 90/The Greens, and FDP, has made a fool of itself. As if the discussion surrounding the final wording of the "Draft Law to Improve Internal Security and the Asylum System" hadn't been embarrassing enough, the adoption of the "Security Package" has turned into another fiasco for the governing parties.

Because even though the legislative proposal was formulated and submitted by the respective parties, they couldn't even unanimously support their own proposals. 25 of the 207 SPD members voted against the draft on the morning of October 18. It was already clear beforehand that this could happen. There was even speculation whether Chancellor Olaf Scholz had called a vote of confidence within his parliamentary group. He would "make use of his options" if his own majority were in danger. What that was really supposed to achieve in the end, probably only he himself knows.

The Chancellor's threat was heavily criticized in advance

But fortunately, not all members of parliament let themselves be intimidated by the Chancellor's threat. Juso leader Philipp Türmer accused Scholz of pressuring his critics. "I hope that no one who wants to vote against the package will be intimidated by this, and I can only tell everyone: Don't let yourselves be beaten down," he told the Stern and called for a vote against the proposal.

"The traffic light package harasses refugees instead of Islamists, that's the fundamental problem." The fact that the usual faction discipline, where all members of a parliamentary group align with the party leadership's position after internal discussion, even if they are critical of it, did not hold despite the threats, is proof enough that the adopted security package is anything but harmless.

FDP changes its mind

No wonder, as the Liberals are unlikely to have any say in the Bundestag from next autumn. In the ARD-DeutschlandTrend, the party only reached three percent in mid-October. Making themselves important again before it might be definitively too late seems to be one of the few remaining options to secure their political relevance in the future.

Greens must worry, opposition votes against the security package

In addition, the FDP recently had to make a confession to the Federal Association for Civilian Legal Weapons (BZL), in which they admitted breaking their word to legal gun owners, their associations, and their own party line: "In order to initiate the urgently needed fundamental change in asylum and migration policy, we had to make concessions on gun law during the compromise finding process," states the letter, which is available to the BZL.

As recently as June, Konstantin Kuhle, FDP parliamentary group deputy and arms law expert, assured BZL managing director Matthias Klotz that the FDP would not comply with further demands for tightening. At the time, it was stated that they saw "no current need to further adjust arms law." Now, the FDP, unanimously by the way, has agreed to such an adjustment.

And even among the Greens, there were significant reservations about the security package. "We urge you: Vote against the so-called security package!" read a motion signed by more than 120 Green members before the vote. "The so-called security package contains measures that violate fundamental and human rights. We must prevent this together." Ultimately, however, nothing was prevented, because the Greens also voted, albeit not unanimously, for the draft law.

Greens must worry, opposition votes against security package

In current polls, the party stands at about 10 percent and would thus be only the fourth strongest force in the next Bundestag. Whether they will continue to be part of the government currently depends solely on the CDU/CSU, which is clearly ahead in the polls. While CSU leader Markus Söder considers a coalition at the federal level unthinkable, most CDU state associations, according to a survey by the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND), do not rule out a coalition of their party with the Greens. "After the election, we will carefully examine which coalition partner can bring about a real change in policy," explained CDU General Secretary Paul Ziemiak to ZDF.

The entire opposition, meaning both CDU/CSU and Die Linke, BSW, and AfD, had already announced beforehand that they would vote unanimously against the planned changes. "During the consultations of the past weeks, the traffic light factions further watered down and diluted the federal government's already insufficient package. We will therefore not approve this package," explained the designated Union Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz. The parliamentary group leader Thorsten Frei described the traffic light's proposal as "full of holes like Swiss cheese."

Criticism of new measures

According to Left Party co-chair Janine Wissler, the security package "plays into the hands of the right" because it is "wrong and racist" to "punish and hold entire groups of people accountable for the crimes of individuals based on their origin." The Brandenburg state chairman of the party, Robert Crumbach, considered the package of measures to be ineffective as early as the end of August. "Prohibiting carrying a knife somewhere doesn't mean no one will carry a knife," he told the German Press Agency.

The AfD even went a step further, having three of its own motions voted on the day of the decision, which included initiating an "unambiguous U-turn" in the traffic light government's migration policy and demanding a "PKS special evaluation of knife attacks" after the first half of 2025.

“A fundamental problem is that such acts are committed with knives for which a carrying ban already exists under § 42a paragraph 1 of the Weapons Act. The tightening of weapons law now planned by the federal government [...] as a reaction, among other things, in the form of general (absolute) knife bans at public events, a knife ban in public transport, and suspicion-independent controls, already do not represent targeted root cause combat for the reasons mentioned above,” the party explained in its motion, which was rejected by a majority.

One-year amnesty regulation applies

Now it is clear what many legal weapon owners and knife enthusiasts had feared: In the future, all types of switchblades will be banned, with both possession and acquisition punishable by law. There will be an amnesty regulation for the surrender of already acquired switchblades, allowing them to be handed over to the respective police authority for destruction. There is also a provision for the possibility of handing them over to an authorized person, such as a manufacturer or commercial dealer.

Already in the October issue of Knyfe Magazine, BZL managing director Matthias Klotz had estimated a compensation value in the millions: "For switchblades, we assume 7,5 million pieces, at an average value of 60 Euros. In total, we are talking about 450 million Euros in compensation value," he explained at the time. However, actual compensation for the surrender is not planned.

On the contrary: anyone who surrenders their switchblade by October 1, 2025, which is actually too late, can rejoice at "not being punished for unauthorized acquisition, unauthorized possession, unauthorized carrying on the direct way to surrender to the competent authority or police station, or for unauthorized transport." Even the "former unauthorized acquisition, former unauthorized possession, or former unauthorized carrying or unauthorized transport of switchblades" would remain without sanction in this case. The jubilation is absent.

On our own behalf: Knyfe has ceased the sale and distribution of all switchblades. We are currently clarifying some questions, including those regarding the return of recently purchased switchblades, and will provide separate information on this. We ask for your understanding.