Dog shoots hunter, man refused license
February 20, 2019
In November 2016, a German hunter was at a game reserve northeast of Dresden and talking to a passerby when his dog accidentally set off his gun from inside the car. The hunter was wounded in the arm.
As a result, the hunter lost both his weapons' license and his hunting permit, which authorities have refused to extend.
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It is against the law for hunters to leave loaded guns inside their vehicles, partly because driving over rough terrain can increase the possibility of an accidental shot.
The man is registered as a Bavarian resident, and the administrative court in Munich ruled on Tuesday that the hunter could not be trusted to buy or own a gun because it presumed "he will not behave cautiously with weapons or ammunition in the future."
The hunter, who runs a fish farm in Ossling, Saxony, may appeal.
Rare, but not unique case
The Berlin-based German Hunters Association (Deutsche Jagdschutz-Verband) had 247,000 members in 2017. It is not known how many DJV members own dogs.
The case, while rare, is not unique. A similar incident was reported in the US state of Texas last November, when a 74-year-old was shot and wounded by his dog. The Rottweiler-cross named Charlie got his paw stuck in the loaded shotgun on the backseat of a pickup truck. The accidental shot went through the car seat and hit the driver in the back.
In January, a hunter in Russia died when his dog touched a loaded gun and caused it to go off.
jm/cmk (dpa, AP)