France launches new digital platform to tighten control on gun ownership

Nearly 5 million people, mostly hunters, will have to register their weapons from Tuesday in a new online platform that has been designed ensure better control of legally held rifles and pistols in France.

Nearly 5 million people, mostly hunters, will have to register their weapons from Tuesday in France © AFP

The state-of-the-art "Weapons Information System", designed by the French Ministry of the Interior takes over from its predecessor, the Agrippa application created in 2007 that has been deemed outdated following a series of security consultations that concluded in September. 

During a presentation of the new SIA system at the Chateau de Chambord, Jean-Simon Mérandat, who heads France's Central Service for Weapons and Explosives summarised the new platform as "a file of honest people, the holders of weapons who hold them in a regular manner."  

According to the Interior Ministry, France has around 5 million gun owners, including 4 million hunters.

Le système d'information sur les armes, #SIA, est le nouvel outil de gestion des #armes à feu civiles.
Il assure la traçabilité des armes dès leur entrée sur le territoire à leur sortie ou destruction.
Pour➕d'info, retrouvez toutes les explications en 📽️👉https://t.co/KjHwqn7yJI pic.twitter.com/POk2pJUG5E

— Ministère de l'Intérieur 🇫🇷🇪🇺 (@Interieur_Gouv) November 7, 2019

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Four categories of weapons in France

The SIA goes online for hunters this Tuesday and in the coming months will open to biathlon and clay-pigeon shooters, as well as collectors and people who may have inherited weapons.

The range of weapons concerned mainly fall into France's B and C categories - pistols, revolvers, rifles, etc. - that are subject to either authorisation or declaration respectively.

Category A weapons, including firearms and automatic rifles - with a few rare exceptions - remain prohibited.

Truncheons, knives, tear gas canisters and the like, fall under category D and can be held freely.

The new system aims to guarantee the better traceability of weapons by interconnecting information provided by the Ministry of the Interior, police prefectures, arms manufacturers, sales outlets and gun owners. 

Cross-checking illegal weapons

The Interior Ministry says any weapon that is manufactured or enters French jurisdiction will be "registered with the SIA and only leaves [the register] when it leaves the territory or is destroyed."

The new system should make it easier for the authorities to cross-check the criminal record of each weapon holder and its non-registration in certain files; in particular the national file of those prohibited from acquiring and holding weapons (FINIADA).

Created in 2011, FINIADA lists 100,000 illicit gun owners, 21,000 of them registered in 2020.

Figures on the number of illegally held guns in France, however, have not been disclosed by the ministry. 

In 2018, an independent research report from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva estimated that some 12.7 million legally and illegally owned weapons were in circulation across France in 2017.