German Gun Companies - Heckler and Koch, whose weapons have killed 2 million people, have vowed to end corruption and sales to war zones and countries far from democratic standards.
Heckler & Koch weapons are on display at the German company's showroom in Oberndorf. The company said it has emerged from global crisis areas. Photo: Bernd Weissbrod/dpa/Alamy Stock Photo
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The company is committed not to sell weapons in war zones or countries that violate the standards of corruption and democracy, such as Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia or any African country.
Although not made public, the new strategy was included in Heckler & Koch's latest annual financial report and confirmed at its annual general meeting in August. A spokesman said the company had "removed itself from global crisis areas".
The move makes Heckler & Koch the first arms company to have a more ethical export control policy than their own government. Germany's economy ministry declined to comment, saying it never speaks to individual company decisions.
Heckler & Koch - sometimes called Germany's killer company by activists - now sells only to "green countries", which are defined according to three criteria: NATO membership or "NATO equivalent" (Japan, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand). ); Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index; and the Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index.
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Company officials have promised to create a compensation fund for the gun victims, although it is not clear how this fund will work. Such an initiative would be "unique anywhere in the world," said Jürgen Grasslin, a veteran German anti-arms campaigner.
In the year The new plan is a surprising turnaround for the company, which was caught illegally selling G36 rifles to Mexico in 2010. Over the past 65 years, Heckler & Koch firearms have been licensed in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and Myanmar.
Only an estimated 15 million of the company's G3 rifles are in circulation, and Greslin estimates that a Heckler and Koch bullet kills someone every 13 minutes.
After being buried in an annual report published in March, the policy was not confirmed until August 15. Activists in the small southern town of Sulz am Neckar called the AGM "absurd".
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In a small hotel where the newspaper was barricaded for days, "critical shareholders" (anti-gun campaigners) directed a total of 110 questions to the company's directors, led by Dieter, chairman of the supervisory board. John.
Among the shareholders are Greslin, Action Ofshrei – Stopt den Waffenhandel! As a campaign spokesperson. (Call to Action - Stop the Arms Trade), surprised by the reception it received. "I thought we were going to get slaughtered there," he said. "You have to remember that we've been fighting this company for 30 years. We've shut down the factory a few times, we've had very serious legal issues.
While previous contact with the company had been limited to threats from the legal department, Greslin and his fellow activists "were dismissed in a friendly way, and there's none of the arrogance you get at AGMs like this."
Since Heckler and Koch intended to honor the terms they had already signed, Greslin was careful not to make the new strategy a complete betrayal. Additionally, the proposed change will not affect the US, one of the company's largest markets. "There's no telling what kind of war the U.S. military might take under Donald Trump," Greslin warned.
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Greslin also said he and other activists played a role in forcing the new strategy by filing criminal charges against the company.
But the German government had another explanation. Social Democratic Party spokesman Lars Castellucci said the Ministry of Economic Affairs - more restrictive policies led by a succession of SPD ministers - forced arms companies to rethink. "The SPD has tried to put the brakes on and limit the export of weapons, especially to regions that are not considered safe," Castellucci. In 2015 and 2016, Germany's overall arms exports reached a peak, making the success of this approach questionable.
"Such a company makes decisions based on economic considerations, and the restrictive policies of the SPD ministers have reduced some of the profit margins, because they can't be sure that the contracts will be executed properly," said Castellucci.
Greslin acknowledged that the decision was "not only unethical," but said he was negligent in how it was made. "This is a company with a terrible reputation. In every forum conversation I've had over the last few years, other gun companies have said, 'We're not like Heckler and Koch, we're more ethical. ' Now Heckler and Koch came along and said, "We're not going to deliver to the Middle East anymore." It will be interesting to see what happens now.'
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The second photo caption was changed on September 11, 2017. He said the previous version featured a variety of weapons from Heckler and Koch. This is fixed because not all guns are Heckler and Koch. Germany has the greatest reputation for technical armaments of all European countries. In the last century the Mauser name dominated, and more recently Walter and H&K are names associated with German firearms manufacturing. Disarmed after two world wars, German weaponry design has always sought innovation and application in a broader global perspective, both during the Cold War and the War on Terror.
No discussion of German armaments can include the Mauser Waffenfabrik. The Konigliche Waffen Schmeiden armory was founded on July 31, 1811 and soon after moved to Obendorf. Andreas Mauser was the original gunsmith, but the company was expanded by his two sons, Wilhelm as CEO and [Peter] Paul Mauser as chief designer. Their first product was the 1871 Mauser model, adopted for Prussian military service. The model underwent several changes before the next breakthrough: prompted by France's adoption of the 8mm label, the German Army requested a similar rifle. The Model 1888 introduced the 8mm Mauser round. In the year In 1888 he copied the Austrian Mannlicher act. The following model introduced the new Maser action, which was adopted in many countries as the Model 1889, 1890 and 1891. This was revised in 1893 (1895, 1896). Pinnick's design was the Mauser 98, which became the standard for German bolt action design. It is used for military and commercial purposes.
Mauser also produced several pistol designs, including the popular C96 "Broomhandle" as well as the 1910 and 1914 pocket pistols. Their designs are licensed in other parts of the world. With limited production between the two world wars, the Mauser factory in Oberndorf - which produced not only bolt action rifles but other weapons including the popular P08 Luger and Walther P38 pistols - was bombed in 1945 and demolished by the French after the war. Several surviving designers of the work force rebuilt some of the factory buildings to produce actual weapons: the embryonic stage of the future arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch. Mauser pistols were developed in the 1950s to produce commercial sporting pistols and occasionally pocket pistols, often in collaboration with other companies such as H&K, Walther or Sig. Walter The Thuringia-based factory founded by Carl Walter in 1886 initially produced sporting rifles. In 1908, John Browning launched rifle lines including the .25ACP/6.35mm, .32ACP/7.65mm, and .380ACP/9mm Kurz. In the year In 1929 their most popular weapon was the Polizipistol or Walther PP and soon after the Polizipistol Kurz or PPK short police pistol.
During World War II, Walter produced his own pistols, specifically the P38 service model, which was a cheaper alternative to the iconic Luger. Walter was contracted to manufacture the Model 98 Mauser rifles and, in partnership with Mauser, participated in a tender to design and manufacture the Gewehr Model 41 and 43. The latter was the most successful self-loading, full-size service rifle in Germany and is often referred to as the "Hitler Garnd". After the war, the factory was located in the Soviet occupation zone. Fritz Walter restarted in Ulm, West Germany, and in 1957 began production of the P38 pistol for the new Bundeswehr, or West German Army. This model was known as the P1 to distinguish it from the battle variant. The company re-released the PP and PPK models, and began to simplify the designs of guns and machines for military and police contracts.
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