More than 5,000 firearms are listed as stolen in Germany, with a further almost 20,000 registered as lost, the authorities have acknowledged in response to a parliamentary question.
Up to the end of January this year, 24,531 firearms were listed on the national weapons register as missing, a rise of some 18 per cent on the year. Of these, 19,282 were lost and 5,249 stolen.
The government statement came in response to a question put by the Greens opposition party and was reported in the mass-circulation Bild newspaper on Wednesday.
Konstantin von Notz, a member of parliament for the Greens, described the figures as alarming.
"They reveal that we have to improve in the fight against weapons crime," he told Bild.
German legislation on the possession of a firearm was tightened in July 2017, with provisions for withdrawal of a firearms licence for gun owners losing their weapons.
