I live in Germany, so I can address part of this.
The forbidden items (brass knuckles and nunchakus)...I’d take a guess that a million Germans walk around daily with these in their possession or in the car. They may say that you can’t sell or buy or possess these...but lots of places will sell them to you and the cops don’t really care. If a cop stops you and wants to do a shake-down....he will confiscate your ‘toys’ but the odds of a search are like one-in-a-million on an average evening.
As for guns...it’s basically a step-by-step process. You go and visit the cops....they give you checklist of a dozen things to accomplish, and you can figure roughly three to six months to everything done. Once you have a license registration...it’s good for the rest of your life. You basically are doing a contract with the cops to say these are the rules and as long as you go by them...it’s pretty simple. It is not rocket-science, as some German politicians will claim. Even an idiot can pass through.
It is true that you will have to take a gun class or hunter class, which is the biggest consumption of time. Toss on the first-aid class as well. Then you have a review by the cops as to your past criminal episodes...if you are clean, then it’s simple. Your doctor will sign papers to indicate that you aren’t on any mind-altering drugs or shown emotional problems. The last issue is acquiring a gun cage or cabinet, which is a key-lock deal....which only you will have the key (not your wife or son, unless they also take the class and do the requirements).
Over the past twelve months, I’d say that more interest has been drawn to this and people realize it’s not that hard to get the weapon.
All good and valid points.
Another way to gun ownership is to participate in a veterans association (Kameradschaft) and do some shooting there. Most males older than 40 or so served in the military, due to the draft that was in place back when they were 18. The younger ones, not so much. (Huge mistake to abolish the draft, btw & imho.)