After a hunting accident, France is again discussing a shooting ban on weekends and holidays
The accident happened in the Cantal, a hilly region in the Massif Central. The 25-year-old local resident was walking with her boyfriend on a hiking trail on Saturday when she collapsed. A shot hit her in the left side of her body. Any medical help came too late.
The fatal shot came from the carbine of a 17-year-old from Cassaniouze. The teenager took part in a drive hunt for wild boar, which are also a nuisance in the Cantal. The shooter was taken into police custody and given psychological treatment as she was in severe shock. She holds a hunting license with a shooting license and was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
The public prosecutor is investigating negligent homicide. At first there was talk of a “stray bullet”, which does not rule out that the shooter could have mistaken the moving target for a wild boar. Hunting had been officially permitted; according to the TV channel France-3, however, it was only signposted on one of the two access sides of the trail.
There is dismay in France about the age of the shooter. French law allows minors to hunt under adult supervision. Many young women are among the 1.2 million active hunters in the country. A total of four million people have a hunting license, more than in any other European country. In France, more than 20 fatal hunting accidents are counted every year. It is mainly hunters who are hit, but also mountain bikers or homeowners in their own gardens. Again and again, alcohol is involved with the shooters. Women are generally considered to be more cautious.
The time of the accident at 3 p.m. on a Saturday gives a lot to talk about. Opponents of hunting have long called for a shooting ban on weekends and school holidays in France. Green presidential candidate Yannick Jadot also repeated this request on Sunday. The Secretary of State for Biodiversity, Bérangère Abba, promised: “Decide so that something like this never happens again.” However, it sounded similar last October when a 67-year-old driver was fatally hit by a hunting bullet on the expressway between Rennes and Nantes was.
President Emmanuel Macron knows that hunters and their families form a strong constituency in the countryside. In the meantime he had promised to halve the cost of the hunting license from 400 euros. It seems unthinkable in France that hunting would be banned so shortly before the elections at the weekend, as in Italy or Portugal.
