"The weapon was found by my grandmother, in her garden, while digging a hole, ten or fifteen years ago", says a bit embarrassed a Parisian individual, showing a rusty pistol in front of the police. .
He explains that he found it "in the back of a closet" when his grandmother died a few months earlier.
The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, reported himself to the 20th arrondissement police station at the end of November to inform of the presence of this weapon, illegally held in his apartment.
This initiative is part of a vast campaign of simplified arms abandonment which is being held from November 25 to December 2 throughout France.
The objective: to recover illegally held weapons, often inheritances, while the authorities estimate that 6 million weapons would gather dust in the cupboards and attics of French people.
Those who wish can thus deposit their weapon or register it, for legal possession, without risk of legal proceedings.
Read alsoRifles, daggers, ammunition... how to get rid of the weapons in your possession?
“They are often insecure.
We put them in the cellar, in the attic, in the closet… If you have children, grandchildren, there is obviously a risk for them, explains Jean-Simon Merandat, head of the Central Service for Weapons and Explosives.
The second issue concerns thefts and burglaries.
8,000 guns are stolen in burglaries each year which can then end up in criminal networks.
And the third issue is intra-family violence", he continues, pointing out "that a third of feminicides see the use of a firearm and most of them are undeclared".
As of November 30, 65,000 firearms have been surrendered along with 1.6 million bullets and other projectiles.
Abandoned weapons are destroyed or donated to museums.
A report to see in the video at the top of the article.
