Nearly 5 million French people who hold one or more weapons, including 26,000 Côte-d’Oriens, will have to register on new software. Entered into service on Tuesday, half of it concerns hunters and half sports shooters or collectors.
The SIA, “weapons information system”, is supposed to simplify administrative procedures, controls but also better trace firearms as explained by Danyl Afsoud, director of the cabinet of the prefect of Côte-d’Or.
“From now on we will have the vision of all the weapons that a person owns and for a weapon, of its life cycle from its production at the manufacturer to its transfer operations and, if necessary, its sale”.
– Thomas Nougaillon
Among the advantages that the chief of staff of the prefect of Côte-d’Or perceives in this new system: better traceability of weapons “that we will be able to follow throughout their life cycle” and for the user “a simplification concerning in particular the obtaining of the European card of transport of the weapons”. This will simplify the administrative formalities since “this document will be available with a single click”.
In Côte-d’Or more than 12,000 hunters impacted
With us, the 12,500 members of the Côte-d’Or hunters’ federation are primarily concerned. Among them Alain, 57, hunter in a hunting society in Saint-Seine l’Abbaye. Alain, he very rarely crosses Europe with his gun on his shoulder and especially fears additional steps.
“When you buy a gun, it’s already declared, then you’ll have to do something again, it’s crazy. With us, we have the guns of grandfathers and even great-grandfathers. If we have to declare everything, we will declare them but I find it unfair” he plagues.
A tolerance until the end of June 2023 in certain cases for hunters
In any case, the deployment of this “weapons information system” will take place over six months. And so the state decided to start with the hunters. _”Two solutions for hunters -_dit Danyl Afsoud- sor they own a weapon that they do not plan to sell or repair, in which case they have until June 30, 2023 to create an account. Either they plan to acquire a new weapon, or to repair an existing weapon and in this case they will have to create an account immediately”.
And the calendar is very precise… Since next March it will be the turn of clay pigeon shooters and biathletes to open their SIA account, in May 2022 sports shooters will have to get started too and finally in June will come the turn of collectors.
Denis Plassard, from Châtillon-sur-Seine is secretary of the regional committee of Ball-Trap, 11,000 members in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté including 300 in Côte-d’Or. Even if he says he does not have all the information for the moment, a fortiori, he is not hostile to the measure.
“Until now, when you bought a gun from a gunsmith, you declared it, so it doesn’t change much. It’s only afterwards, for sales between individuals (because in the world of clay pigeon shooting there are shooters who buy weapons from other shooters) that it will be appropriate to go through the famous digital rack”.
– Thomas Nougaillon
This should greatly simplify the lives of gun owners, especially in the event of an inspection, explains Guy Schoenleber, gunsmith in Fontaine-lès-Dijon. “If you are checked, it will be easier to prove that you are the owner of a weapon. Since with your account there will also be an app that will be put in place where you can show everything you have and you will not you will no longer need to carry documents with you to be able to hunt”.
The state promises more controls
With this system, the State will therefore be able to know more easily who owns which weapon and carry out more checks. Controls which could now take place at least once a year, promises the Ministry of the Interior. But at the Côte-d’Or hunting federation, Dominique Rigaud, the vice-president is skeptical.
“I’m not saying it’s an aberration because there are positive things, like the possibility for those who go hunting abroad to take out their European passport themselves. But there are also a lot of negative things. We is already very, very regulated in terms of hunting and I am particularly afraid that we will scare away more hunters, especially the older ones who will say to themselves that it is still ‘an additional thing’, something that they will not be able to do and suddenly some will certainly prefer to stop”.
The Côte-d’Or a department more armed than the average
The Côte-d’Or prefecture estimates that there are just over 5 million gun owners (legally owned) in France. At the level of the department 26,000 people would hold 77,000 weapons in total. That is an average of 145 weapons per 1,000 inhabitants, which is higher than the national average which is 80 per 1,000. This is linked to the rural aspect of the department and to a greater number of hunters, explains the prefecture.
Find our “Dossier + info” at 6:45 a.m. and 8:15 a.m. this Wednesday, February 9, 2022 on the France Bleu Bourgogne antenna (98.3 or 103.7)