In short
Every legal statement is stored in a catalog that both the app and the website read from, together with its citation, its official source and the date it was checked. The register holds 1573 provisions from 23 jurisdictions, each checked against the official text at regular intervals. Where interpretations diverge or the question is open, the page says “Disputed” or “Unresolved” rather than offering a reassuring reading.
One data source for the app and the website #
A deadline, a quota or a specification is kept in exactly one place: a catalog in our source code. The app displays it, and the website pages are generated from it. A sentence that existed only in the HTML would sooner or later drift out of step with the catalog without anyone noticing. Automated checks fail as soon as a page cites a provision that is not in any catalog.
Where the legal statements come from #
We read the official full text wherever it is accessible — for the United States, Canada, Denmark and Spain, mostly on ecfr.gov, laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, retsinformation.dk, and boe.es. Where it is not, we rely on a named reproduction or, failing that, on excerpts, and note this next to the provision; this currently applies to 40 of 1573 provisions. Every statement carries its citation, the address of the official text and the date we last checked it. The register currently lists 1573 provisions from 271 statutes and regulations in 23 jurisdictions.
Where the wording leaves a question open, we look for case law and administrative practice. We are not a law firm, and no page replaces legal advice.
How often we re-read #
Every provision in the register has a fixed review interval: 7 provisions every 30 days, 3 provisions every 66 days, 25 provisions every 84 days, 13 provisions every 88 days, 77 provisions every 90 days, 2 provisions every 92 days, 1032 provisions every 180 days, 51 provisions every 182 days, 363 provisions every 365 days. Once a week, an automated run fetches the provisions from their official source and compares the current wording with the version we read. For 1135 provisions, the comparison uses a fingerprint of the text; for 438 provisions, we re-read the text by hand because the source does not allow automated retrieval. We also monitor Germany’s Federal Law Gazette (Bundesgesetzblatt), the U.S. Federal Register and the Canada Gazette for newly published amendments to these laws. Every match triggers a review. Any change to our catalog is made by hand, never automatically.
Read the register yourself #
For each country, the provisions we read are listed on a page of their own, each with its citation, official address, the version we read and the date it was checked. See Legal sources: Canada, Legal sources: United States, Legal sources: Spain, and Legal sources: Denmark.
Settled, disputed, unresolved #
Every statement carries a grade. Settled means the wording of the law supports it. Disputed means we searched case law and administrative practice and found two lines of interpretation, each backed by authority. Unresolved means the law does not answer the question, and our search found no answer either. For both grades, the catalog records when and where we searched.
How the firearms catalog is sourced #
- No specification without a source. Barrel length, weight, capacity and the other specifications on a model page each cite their source. If a data sheet relies on information from a retailer, the page omits the specifications section.
- What we submit to search engines. We submit a model, accessory or caliber page to search engines only if, between 27 July 2026 and 25 October 2026, it appeared in the results of at least ten Google searches or was clicked there at least once, counted per page and language. Many of these pages are built from the same template, and the best indication of whether one of them helps searchers is whether anyone searched for it. Overview pages for the catalogs, manufacturers and categories are submitted only if they list at least one such page or met the same threshold themselves. All other pages remain accessible; we only ask search engines not to index them.
- Barcodes: manufacturer first. We take barcodes from the manufacturer. Where the manufacturer does not publish one, we use a barcode only once at least two independent retailers list it. Barcode databases do not count as a source.
When we get it wrong #
Corrected legal statements do not disappear quietly: the corrections log records each one with the date, the page, the old and new wording, and the citation. For the English-language pages, it currently has 58 entries. Every page has a “Report an error” link at the bottom; your message goes to kontakt@waffenschrank.app, with no form and no third parties involved.
Who is behind this #
The publisher is the company that develops the app; its address and legal representatives are listed in the legal notice. Our pages carry no author bylines: the content is backed by the process described above, not by a person.
Using the catalog data #
You may quote and reuse individual entries from the gun, accessory and caliber catalogs; please credit “Waffenschrank (waffenschrank.app)” with a link to the page concerned. For the catalog as a whole, we claim the database maker’s right under EU and German law (Article 7 of Directive 96/9/EC; sections 87a et seq. of the German Copyright Act, UrhG). Extracting or re-utilizing a substantial part of it, including by repeated and systematic extraction or re-utilization of insubstantial parts (for example, by automated scraping) where this conflicts with a normal exploitation of the catalog, therefore requires our consent unless permitted by law (section 87c UrhG); write to kontakt@waffenschrank.app. There is currently no open license for the data. Information from third-party sources is referenced on the respective page; the rights in those sources remain with their owners.