In May 2021, in a sawmill in the Cévennes, Valentin Marcone, 29, coldly shot his boss and a colleague, fled and surrendered four days later. Introverted, the young man was fascinated by firearms and had built his own shooting center near his house, where he had a veritable arsenal. A legal arsenal, because he was enrolled in a shooting club. Detained in a prison hospital pending trial, he faces life imprisonment.
Between hunters and licensees in shooting clubs, weapons circulate in France in a completely legal manner. In France, the number of sports shooters has exploded: 145,000 in 2011, more than 240,000 today, a nearly 70% increase in ten years.
In 2021, the gendarmerie faced 180 madmen or entrenched shooters
Is it safe? In 2021, the gendarmerie was confronted with 180 madmen or entrenched shooters, one case every two days, especially after confinement. Are there controls? How to identify high-risk profiles? Firearms are becoming commonplace, sold on the Internet, promoted on social networks. What consequences? The porosity between certain arms owners and radical far-right ideology is of particular concern to the authorities.
Armed fugitives, entrenched shooters, hidden militants of the most extreme causes, “Special Envoy” investigated in this France which sometimes unpins.
A report by Clément Le Goff, Giona Messina and Gaëlle Pidoux, broadcast in “Special Envoy” on June 2, 2022.
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