Louise and Julien got up early that morning. It’s raining a little in the forest of Fontainebleau, but for nothing in the world the two twins would not have missed their monthly hunting trip. Armand, their father, walks his old gun in the ferns and grumbles, lost in thought: he has never really had a hunting license and this worries him, especially since a young woman was killed by a bullet. lost in the Cantal, and that it could well be controlled.
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Armand consoles himself, because it’s a special day for Louise, who has just turned 16: her uncle Jean gave her the rifle of her dreams. Unlike his sister, Julien does not like firearms, but nevertheless has a passion for crossbows. So he brought his own. After a short break, the three accomplices sink into the forest. At the bend of a clearing the gendarmes appear, accompanied by the rural warden. The trio’s epic ends at the police station. What happened ?
Louise, Julien, Armand and Jean don’t really exist. Neither did their hunting party. Regulations on weapons and hunting are very real. franceinfo goes up the thread to explain them to you, while the death of a A young 25-year-old woman killed by a stray bullet in Cantal has placed hunting and the use of weapons in France in general at the heart of the news.
To hunt, and therefore walk around with a gun, Armand must be able to present a hunting license. The examination of the hunting permit, open to anyone over 16, is organized by the French Office for Biodiversity in collaboration with the departmental federations of hunters. Before taking the exam, the candidate must follow a training provided by one of these federations. The test takes place over a single day and includes practical exercises followed by theoretical questions. In the event of success in the examination, the permanent title of the hunting license is given to the candidate at the end of the examination. Before the age of 16, minors can hunt accompanied by an adult who has held a hunting license for at least five years. He shares his weapon with his godfather during the hunting party and is never alone. There is no age limit for hunting, provided you can provide a medical certificate.
Since 2021, hunters must do an upgrade every ten years. This consists of a half-day training course during which they notably review the regulations in force. Like the obligation to report a hunt in progress using signs. The dates on which hunting is authorized differ according to the departments: a prefectural decree sets the opening dates. It is then permitted to hunt every day, including weekends. France is also the only European country where, except for local exceptions (and most often temporary), there are no non-hunted days.
In addition to a valid hunting license, Armand, our hunter, should also have declared his weapon on the new government platform, which he did not do. The gendarmes will close their eyes this time, but still took away his rifle. Louise, who also hadn’t declared her rifle, bought by Uncle Jean a long time ago, gets away with a long sermon. No luck for Julien: as in Germany and most countries of the European Union, crossbow hunting is prohibited in France, unlike bow hunting. He however pleaded his ignorance in front of the soldiers, who reminded him that no one is supposed to ignore the law.
In terms of weapons, however, the legislation is at the very least… dense. Let’s try some clearing. In France, there are some 5.4 million declared and therefore legal firearms: they are found in the cupboards of the four million hunters in France, as well as sports shooters, biathletes, ball-and-ball players. trap and gun collectors.
And this year, the law changes: from February 8, 2022, hunters must declare their weapons on a computerized platform, the Weapons Information System (SIA). Weapon owners have a year and a half to comply. During the 2022 semester, all private owners (i.e. licensees of the French clay pigeon shooting, ski and sports shooting federation, as well as collectors) as well as owners of firearms not licensees (former licensees of sports shooting, clay pigeon shooting and ski federations, or even those who have inherited a weapon, or who have found one by chance). In addition to these declared weapons, independent researchers from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva estimated in 2018 at 7.3 million the number of weapons illegally held in France in 2017.
In absolute terms, anyone, if they are of age, can buy a weapon: it all depends on the nature of the latter. It’s a bit complicated, but not that much. Weapons are classified into four categories according to their dangerousness, which is assessed according to three criteria: its concealable nature (a revolver hides better than a shotgun), its ability to fire without reloading ammunition and repeatability. firing (a weapon that can only fire one shot at a time is less dangerous than one that allows burst firing). The rules for buying, carrying, transporting and possessing the weapon vary according to its category.
Category A weapons are thus prohibited to individuals, except for derogation, for example for a biathlete who participates in a competition. These are handguns, automatic or semi-automatic repeating weapons (i.e. which allow burst firing), as well as their ammunition. Or, a little beyond our subject, those used by the military or law enforcement. The list is long: weapons with laser beams, cannons, rocket launchers, torpedoes, missiles, grenades, mines. But also warships, nuclear devices, certain means of cryptology, electricity accumulators for submarines, certain sighting or night vision equipment.
Category B weapons are subject to authorization: there are handguns, certain rifles, and certain sports shooting weapons. Systematically classified in category B, a handgun, like a pistol, will always require an authorization to acquire and possess a weapon in order to be purchased. The authorization, delivered after investigation by the prefect for example for the exercise of the shooting in competition or with regard to the professional risk incurred by the one who requests it, is valid for 5 years, renewable. Once the authorization has been notified, the person has three months to acquire a weapon, after which it expires. There are many coins to pay. Among them: a medical certificate of less than a month, proof of installation in accordance with his home, such as a strong cabinet to store his weapon, a shooting license, a favorable opinion from the French Shooting Federation linked to a practice regular. This is an authorization to hold and use in a specific context: that of competition, but not a permanent license to carry a weapon. The Minister of the Interior may receive such a request, in the case for example of a person whose life is threatened, but these permits are only granted very rarely and only a few dozen French people benefit from them.
Category C, it includes hunting rifles, weapons intended for shooting ranges, certain collector’s weapons and certain replica weapons. Weapons in this category must also be declared online, and must be kept safe, for example in a safe or strong cabinet. To acquire a weapon of category C, several conditions: to be of legal age, not to be registered in the national file of persons prohibited from acquiring and possessing weapons, to present a bulletin n ° 2 of the criminal record not containing convictions for “murder, assassination, torture or acts of barbarity, intentional violence, rape or sexual assault, drug trafficking”…, do not signal yourself by behavior that leaves “objectively to fear a dangerous use of the weapon for oneself or for others”, present a medical certificate dated less than one month or a valid hunting permit or shooting or clay pigeon shooting license. These weapons can only be transported on board a vehicle unloaded, disassembled or placed in a case.
There are also some collector’s weapons in this category: with a permit or shooting license, it is legal to acquire them. In the absence of one or the other of these two documents, the fan of old weapons will have to ask the prefecture for a collector’s card and declare the weapons he owns. Note that this card allows the purchase of category C weapons, but not their ammunition.
At last, category D weapons are freely available and not subject to declaration. We will find, in this category, pell-mell: Julien’s crossbow, bows, pellet guns, Airsoft replicas, daggers, hunting knives, truncheons, cane-sword, tear gas or incapacitating sprays of a capacity less than or equal to 100 ml, electrical energy weapons, electric batons or electric fists, such as “knucklers” or other “shockers” (except the Taser, prohibited for individuals). Or weapons designed for firing blank ammunition, gas or signaling weapons, paintball launchers, compressed air rifles “whose projectile is propelled with a muzzle energy of between 2 and 20 joules“as well as historical and collector’s weapons whose model is prior to 1900, unless it is dangerous.
The rain has stopped falling. Our little imaginary band, sheepish but determined to forget their misadventures, continued their walk. A few kilometers later, around noon, in the market square, they found Charlotte, their old aunt from Ardèche, who had come to visit them for the fall. Small and frail, she saw on television that in town the streets were not safe, so she hid in her bag, between her old portable radio and her red velvet wallet, a spray of pepper self-defense and her little Opinel, to be able to free herself if she was sequestered.
Charlotte is illegal: French law prohibits carrying on oneself or transporting in the trunk of one’s car an over-the-counter weapon without a legitimate reason (for example, having the certainty that one will be the subject of aggression) or professional (working as a night watchman or security guard). If necessary, it will be necessary to be able to explain to the police or to the judge why its transport or its port was essential, under penalty of one year of imprisonment and a fine of 15,000 euros. This includes tear gas canisters, small knives and other truncheons…and all their little D-category cousins.
For the weapons “whose projectile is propelled non-pyrotechnically with a muzzle energy of between 2 and 20 joules” (for example a pellet gun), the fine is reduced to 750 euros. What is meant by legitimate reason? The judge will assess on a case-by-case basis, depending on the context and the circumstances. If the law prohibits the carrying of all types of knives, considered as bladed weapons, the courts seem to display a form of tolerance for so-called leisure knives, the assessment being left to the police. With a smile, Charlotte can therefore hope to keep in her bag and her spray, and her Opinel.