The Ministry of Ecology authorizes "silencers” for the hunters, we attack him for abuse of power
One Voice filed an appeal with the State Council against the Ministry of Ecological and Supportive Transition on the decree authorizing the use of gun silencers for hunting.
In early 2018, the Ministry of Ecological and Supportive Transition issued an order on various hunting procedures, without any mention of the ban on the use of silencers on rifles. As no public consultation has been made, and without any apparent motive for this amendment of the original text, or impact study on the matter, we consider that this decree is illegal. We file an appeal to the Council of State for abuse of power.
The hunt kills wild animals. This human practice replaces natural predators: wolves, bears, foxes… that the human seeks out – or as of now has already succeeded – to cause their disappearance because they have competed against them in relation with the animals that they have raised for their flesh.
Hunting in France is not an activity necessary for the survival of the country’s population. The number of non-human animal victims is exorbitant, but human animals are not left out either. There are about 15 people killed and 200 wounded each year; the hunters themselves, the people in their families who sometimes accompany them, walkers, nature lovers, as well as the local residents, living simply on the edge of the forest. Residents regularly suffer stray bullets or errors of judgment on the part of these human predators dressed in their khaki outfits.
For several hundred years the sound of firing has not only given the animals a chance to flee the danger, but for hunting parties to move away from each other and to also alert the simple rural hikers of their presence and to move away from these shooting areas.
Inevitably and a little annoying the hunters became deaf over time from the firing. But for this, they recommended among themselves the wearing of helmets and individual hearing protectors deemed very effective by the hunters themselves.
They argue that the silencers don’t really suppress the sound on current rifles. But this decree would allow new weapons to appear in the hands of hunters. It also gives poachers more chance to act in the shadows, and in silence, at least more discreetly than before.
The problem is even wider: by improving hunting conditions, the ministry endorses and encourages this practice, which is detrimental to the balance of the environment and is contrary to sustainable development.
Biodiversity and nature are not based on or in balance with hunting. Humans must stop adopting a domineering attitude towards the ecosystems and the animal species that surround us. We are not the kings of the Earth; we must learn to leave a place for all sentient beings living in our territories, and to integrate ourselves into this balance without disfiguring it forever.
Without public consultation, and without valid justification, the ministry issued an order permitting the use of “sound suppressors” or “silencers” on hunters’ firearms. We therefore file an appeal for the abuse of power. We believe that the ministerial decree published on January 2nd 2018 does not meet any need. We go even further: for us it poses the very question of its legality; moreover, it jeopardizes the balance of the environment.