The July sale took place through open submissions, as revolvers were sold to a professional gunsmith in Germany.
The sale took place in Germany as such a public sale of weapons through the Ministry of Finance has yet to occur in Luxembourg itself. In total, 710 revolvers were available to be sold. However, the police destroyed 360 guns as they did not conform to current regulations or had defects and several were kept for the police collection. A remaining amount of 340 weapons were sold at a price of €960 each.
Police officers also had the opportunity to buy their on-duty firearms for €150. The guns in question were not firearms destined for a military or police market, but were civil firearms purchased by the Grand Ducal police.
As detailed in a response to a parliamentary question, Minister for Internal Security Francois Bausch and temporary-Minister of Justice Sam Tanson revealed that the authorities were aware of issues emerging from revolvers produced by the US brand Smith & Wesson. The police had purchased around 20 different models over the past three decades due to the regulations dictating the types of munition permitted.
The SNPGL, the police trade union, had raised the alarm concerning issues with Smith & Wesson 686 model guns, which will now be replaced by German Heckler & Koch SFP 9 pistols.
