Paris Killings Show Rise of Banned French ‘Weapons of War’

Posted on January 14, 2015 0 Comments14
The masked, black-clad killers whose Paris attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo today took 12 lives were carrying Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifles. The scary thing in France, where gun-control laws are far stricter than in the U.S., is that their weapons choice wasn’t surprising.

Semi-automatic and automatic firearms are banned, but that hasn’t stopped drug dealers and terrorists from acquiring them in increasing numbers, according to the National Observatory for Delinquency, a state body created in 2003 by then-Interior Minister and later President Nicolas Sarkozy. The numbers of illegal weapons in France have increased by double digits for years, the body says.

“The French black market for weapons has been inundated with eastern European war artillery and arms,” said Philippe Capon, the head of UNSA police union. “They are everywhere in France.” AK-47s sell for 1,000 euros ($1,181) to 1,500 euros on the black market, he said.

Two attackers killed at least 12 reporters and police officers at the headquarters of the satirical weekly magazine, which has often portrayed religious leaders including Prophet Muhammad.

Eight journalists, two police officers, a guest and a maintenance man were killed, Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said. Amateur video footage showed a perpetrator chasing a wounded victim in the street with an AK-47, then shooting him dead.

“It was well-armed commandos that had a task to do,” said Emmanuel Quemener from the police union Alliance. “They had weapons of war, including Kalashnikovs. We’ve never seen anything like it.”

U.S. Laws

The issue has poignancy in the U.S., where Adam Lanza used an American-made semi-automatic rifle known as an AR-15 to kill 20 children and six adult educators in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012. The gun had been legally acquired.

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