Purchasing ammunition in tobacconist's: smoking is bad, killing is (surely) better?!

The very words of Willy Schraen, FNC President: Emmanuel Macron “has done more for French hunting than any of his predecessors”^[1]. And it is an understatement to say that between those protecting animals and those who want to kill them, the French President and his ministers have clearlyx chosen their side.

^[1] Moral report from the FNC President delivered at the FNC general meeting on 20 March 2019.

Tobacconist’s: the government’s secret weapon to protect biodiversity

In its “strategy” to protect nature, the State seems to have found a new essential participant: newsagents. A few weeks ago, we found out about the launch, with much fanfare, of a scratch card for biodiversity. Asking French people themselves to pay for protecting the environment and to also compensate for the lack of investment by authorities - what a great discovery!

These are undoubtedly the same enlightened minds who developed the latest proposal by the Ministry of the Interior: allowing shooters to buy their ammunition directly from tobacco shops. These are torture instruments: bullets formerly reserved for the army that are now legal, they are expanding projectiles that open up inside the animal, causing it unimaginable suffering... All of this will now be at the disposition at the corner shop where anyone can buy rolling papers, drink a small glass of red, and kill at the same time. But we have been reassured: according to the Ministry of the Interior, “from 1 January, tobacconist’s will be able to learn about the regulations on the sale of hunting cartridges in a few hours”...

Consequently, we have already launched a legal plea to obtain a ban on certain types of weapons and better safety for this practice; the government seems determined to persist in supporting the hunting world.

The FNC: an influential group pampered by authorities

Today, it is clear that fake propositions from the minister in charge of hunting safety, each more ridiculous than the next, were just an illusion to continue to support hunters at any cost.

They are firing on all cylinders and do not hesitate in rehashing their usual arguments to present themselves as the only ones to have something reasonable to say. The minutes from the FNC general meeting, published by a whistle-blower, are a telling illustration of this: allegations against “new right-thinking society” who are “afraid of their origins”, and a scientific analysis that would make palaeontologists hopping mad, when W. Schraen stated that it is “human beings who, with a desire to dominate the animal kingdom, at one time made us come down from the trees to chase after others quite simply to eat them”... A funny interpretation of existing knowledge.

Through coshing their arguments and whinging about compensation for damage caused by wild boars that will cost them too much - all while raising these same wild boars in their masses to kill them - they received their umpteenth favour: several million euros per year, at the taxpayer's expense, to promote hunting... no, sorry - to protect the environment. On the menu: teaching children how to use a knife in schools, installing plastic nest boxes that are dangerous for birds... All with a complete lack of transparency, and we understand that the media has recently revealed the calamitous management of these funds and the more than dubious use of public money.

While 89% of French people believe that this deadly hobby poses safety issues (IPSOS/One Voice survey, October 2023), it is about time that the government finally listens to the majority’s voices! To help, sign our petition to demand a radical reform on hunting!

Translated from the French by Joely Justice