Tierschutz Austria: Stricter Rules for Recreational Hunters
Tierschutz Austria has broadly welcomed the planned reform of firearms legislation, but has criticised exemptions for recreational hunters.
The association views positively the proposed stricter measures such as higher age limits, mandatory psychological assessments and longer waiting periods for firearms acquisition as an important step towards violence prevention.
However, it is incomprehensible that hobby hunters should remain exempt from regular psychological fitness assessments, said President Madeleine Petrovic. Cases such as the triple murder in Annaberg in 2023 demonstrated that a risk of gun violence also exists in hunting circles.
Tierschutz Austria furthermore points to scientific studies suggesting a link between animal cruelty and subsequent violence against humans. Criminological and psychological studies show: those who deliberately abuse animals, for example during hunting, are significantly more likely to exhibit violent behaviour towards humans — particularly in the areas of domestic violence, child abuse and grievous bodily harm. The association therefore demands that convictions for animal cruelty should also result in preventive firearms bans. In addition, such offences should be mandatorily reported to firearms authorities and recorded in a central risk database.
Anyone who mistreats animals poses a risk to society. The protection of humans and animals must be considered together — and safeguarded with equal legal consistency, said Petrovic.
Further articles
- Are Recreational Hunters Psychopaths?
- Recreational Hunters on the Psychological Swing
- Aggression: Understanding Recreational Hunters Better
- Sadism: Understanding Recreational Hunters Better
- Trophies: Trophy Hunting for Pleasure
- Alcohol: Recreational Hunters and the Drinking Problem
- Hunting and Hunters: Psychoanalysis
- Recreational Hunters and Violence in Our Society
More on the subject of recreational hunting: In our dossiers on the criticism of recreational hunting gather fact-checks, analyses and background reports. The scientific evidence is presented in the overview Studies on the Effects of Recreational Hunting.
The position of IG Wild beim Wild: IG Wild beim Wild rejects recreational hunting. Our model is the canton of Geneva, which has managed without recreational hunting since 1974: without hunting seasons, without hunting dogs, without driven hunts, without high seats, without the animal cruelty and crime that go hand in hand with hunting season elsewhere. What has worked there for over fifty years disproves every position paper by JagdSchweiz. An association that bases its policy on claims it refutes in its own documents is not a professional organisation, but a factory for misinformation.
