While we French always complain, it is not that bad.
After signing up with an authorised shooting range gun club, one must regularly shoot guns available for rent there. After a period of time ranging from 6 months to a year, the pdt of the club issues you a favorable recommendation to apply for a gun purchase/ holding permit. Once this has bounced back to you after a check by the police that you have clean penal record and are not tagged as psycho or otherwise troubled/troublesome person, you are then issued with one permit to purchase a gun in a given category.
We have several categories:
1st- military weapons: 9mm; cal 45; cal 30; etc..
2nd- armoured vehicles,vessels or aircraft carrying or delivering weapons (not our subject)
3rd- forgot
4th- rim fire guns, i.e. 22 cal pistols & revolvers for instance and 38 special, 44
5th- rifles for hunting and sports, just by showing your ID
6th- edged weapons
7th- forgot
8th- collectors pistols, revolvers and carbines.(and also demilled guns) Usually rare and obsolete: Luger carbine, C96 carbine, Colt 1900 under serial 2000 (but not the 1902), 1873 French revolver but not 1892, Kolibri; Adler pistol; Schwarzlose pistol; about 40 guns total.
Alas no 1900 Lugers, not even a 1904 Navy Luger would be accepted in this category, even if impossible to find and beyond the budget of an ordinary bank robber (before the robbery...)
In total, the shooter can own only 6 central fire cartridge guns.
And there is no collector status (as in Germany)all collectors have to be either shooters or discrete. To benefit from the collector status in France one must be a museum open to the public and display only non fuctionnal and demilled guns.
I hope this inform you you better and makes you quite happy to live in the US where you can buy guns at a much cheaper price due to the large market.
Rgds
Alain
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