What Does Gun Control Look Like In France?

08 Oct, 2015 by William Teach

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It looks extremely draconian

America’s Gun Madness, as Seen From Europe

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Viewed from France, everything about the United States looms large. Still, the numbers the newscasters ticked off — more than 300 million guns in circulation, mass shootings occurring at a rate of nearly one per day, thousands of victims of gun-related deaths — were shocking in their magnitude.

I agree. Why won’t Democratic Party run cities do something about all the casual gun-play within their borders?

Guns are highly regulated in France. Hunting is a popular sport, but a hunting license is required before a rifle can be purchased. Guns can be bought for use at firing ranges, but only after an application has been filed and approved by the police. All gun buyers must provide a medical certificate of mental and physical fitness to own a weapon, and all guns must be registered. It is illegal to possess military-grade weapons. That the Oregon shooter, Christopher Harper-Mercer, was equipped with five handguns, an assault rifle and several magazines of ammunition — all purchased legally — is unimaginable here.

One needs a hunting license to hunt in the US. Background checks are required to purchase a goodly chunk of guns, most often being approved by the police, typically the Sheriff’s office. It’s also illegal to possess military-grade weapons in the US, ones that are fully automatic. One can also purchase rifles that are much more powerful than these so-called “military-grade” weapons (they mean that they are scary looking) in both France and the U.S.

AR-15 and other MSR style rifles are no more powerful than other hunting rifles of the same caliber and in most cases are chambered in calibers less powerful than common big-game hunting cartridges like the 30-06 Springfield and .300 Win. Mag.

In fact, many people use rifles that are exactly the same as these “military-grade weapons”, except for the way they look, but no one freaks and tries to ban them

The top one is much lighter, making it much easier for women to use it to defend themselves. Why do liberals want to make it harder for women to defend themselves? They must hate women.

Terrorists in Europe typically obtain their weapons illegally, and arms trafficking, a serious problem, is growing worse. In 2012, France increased fines and jail terms for possession and trafficking of illegal guns, but it’s unclear if that has had much effect. Recently, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve vowed that he would present a new “aggressive” plan to fight illegal arms possession and trafficking. He said the authorities had seized nearly 6,000 weapons from criminal groups every year since 2013, of which 1,200 were military-grade weapons, numbers that pale in comparison to the number of similar weapons in circulation in the United States.

In September in Marseilles, 1 was killed and 5 shot by a supposed “9mm automatic weapon”. I have to wonder whether that was just anti-gun hysteria or they actually had an automatic weapon. We don’t see that kind of thing happen here.

I do like the idea of going after the illegal guns, though, rather than after those who legally possess them. If only Democrats had the willpower to go after the criminals who illegally possess them in their Democratic Party run cities. Oh, right, when they crack down on crime they are accused of raaaaacism, and immediately retreat.

But my mother also has enough common sense to favor reasonable gun control, and she’s sick of the violence. “I’m sure there’ll be another shooting soon,” she said, despairingly. And if the toll is big enough, I’m sure it will make the news in France.

So, what does the author propose? No idea, that’s the last paragraph. The Washington Post Editorial Board seems to know, once they get done whining about Republicans

Up to a point they are right, of course; the government will never prevent all violence. But it’s also perfectly obvious that the government could take steps that would reduce the incidence of mass shootings, suicides, domestic homicides, children shooting children and other gun violence. Bad people exist in other countries; mentally ill people exist in other countries; young, disturbed men play violent video games in other countries. Some of them even grow up without fathers. But countries that do not allow so many guns to circulate so freely lose many, many fewer of their citizens to gun crimes or accidents. Republican candidates are increasingly tying themselves in knots on this issue, because there’s no logical way to refute that one, clear truth.

Interesting. Apparently, violent video games cause this, as does growing up without fathers. Remind me which Party has worked to break up the family and extolled the single parent household, and I’m not talking because of divorce, where the father is still part of the children’s lives.

What they’re really getting at is banning private ownership of guns, which would only affect law abiding citizens, oh, and leave women more vulnerable to the lawless hooligans, particularly in violent laden Democratic Party run cities.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.