Austria, where gun ownership is widespread, on Wednesday voted to tighten laws following a deadly school shooting in June.
The unprecedented case of deadly gun violence stunned the Alpine EU member, with the government vowing to review restrictions on private gun ownership.
In the attack in Austria’s second largest city Graz on June 10, a 21-year-old man killed nine students and a teacher of his former secondary school before shooting himself.
Parliament approved an increase in the minimum age for owning pistols and other such firearms from 21 to 25 years old and for shotguns from 18 to 21 from next year.
Those who own weapons must also undergo a clinical-psychological evaluation not only for the initial application but also after a five-year trial period, according to the amendments.
Exceptions are provided for hunters and sport shooters as they have to undergo “strict training”, according to the government.
Only the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) — which topped last year’s elections for the first time but failed to form government — voted against the law.
The FPOe criticised it as an “attack on law-abiding citizens” and said the government should instead focus on fighting illegal weapons possession.
The Greens, who are also in opposition, said the changes did not go far enough and made too many exceptions, but they voted in support.
The Graz school gunman was armed with a pistol, sawn-off double-barrel shotgun and ammunition.
Earlier this year, he had received a gun licence after undergoing a psychological assessment and then purchased the shotgun and pistol.
He was able to do so despite being rejected from Austria’s mandatory military service after failing the psychological tests and being deemed “unfit”.
Austria — known for its gun culture centred around hunting and sports shooting — has one of Europe’s highest number of small arms in circulation per capita.
The country of almost 9.2 million people has more than 1.5 million weapons registered to about 370,000 owners.
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