Austrian prosecutors have closed their investigation into members of a Tyrolean traditional shooting group after German police found tiny Nazi-era markings on historic rifles seized from a tour bus on June 24, 2026. The Innsbruck public prosecutor's office dropped the case under Austria's Prohibition Act, determining there was no intent to promote Nazi ideology.
German federal police at the Kleines Deutsches Eck in Bavaria had confiscated 34 long guns belonging to the Tiroler Schützen, a traditional Alpine militia organization. Officers discovered 5-by-5-millimetre swastikas and Wehrmacht eagles stamped on twelve of the weapons. Schützen commander Thomas Saurer said the markings were historical imprints and carried no political message, adding that the group would remove them.
The Traunstein prosecutor's office in Bavaria is continuing its inquiry into the public display of banned symbols and has opened a separate case against 31 members for unauthorized transport of firearms.