France makes push to collect heirloom weapons across country

By JEFFREY SCHAEFFER and THOMAS ADAMSON

BRUNOY, France (AP) — France has launched a nationwide drive to collect millions of old firearms, remnants of the two World Wars or long-abandoned hunting excursions. French Interior Ministry officials suspect French families keep many unregistered weapons tucked away in attics and storerooms as heirlooms in the country that was once the scene of many of the last century’s fiercest battles. Jean-Simon Merandat, Head of the Interior Ministry’s Central Service for Arms and Explosives said it’s believed there are about 5 or 6 million weapons that are being kept in an “irregular manner” in the country and that 80-90% of them have been inherited. Authorities say there will be no legal consequences if weapons are handed over within the initial weeklong drive that ends Dec. 2.