Police find "arsenal of weapons" in man's home for domestic violence

On Feb. 27, gendarmes in Vrigne-aux-Bois, Ardennes, eastern France, discovered a mini "arsenal" of 12 rifles and shotguns, two handguns and a number of cold weapons when they searched the home of a man suspected of domestic violence.

Police came to check on the situation after the woman reported that her husband had been violent with her and her children, and were surprised to find a large number of illegal weapons in his possession. Police immediately interrogated the man and ordered him to leave the house immediately. The man will be tried in court in May of this year.

In 2020, 90 women will be killed by their spouses or ex-spouses in France. This is a decrease compared to 2019, but the percentage of women shot by their spouses or ex-spouses has remained the same for many years, accounting for about one-third of such cases.

According to the latest relevant research data from 2019, 24% of women killed in marriage in 2009 died by gunshot. Of the 42 perpetrators who shot their spouses, 27 were legally armed.

To prevent these tragedies from occurring, the Secretary of the Interior issued a statement on February 5, 2021, expressing his desire for legislation to "automatically confiscate weapons from the home in cases of domestic violence if a report is received from a spouse. The search of legally owned firearms in the home following a report of domestic violence is also a recent addition to the law. As part of the "Spousal Violence Act," this new provision was voted on in December 2019 and will only just take effect in July 2020.

In a statement, the minister said, "Police and gendarmes are often called upon to intervene in cases of domestic violence, where the perpetrators of domestic violence often possess firearms." . Therefore, the police should ask those present and the victim if they have a weapon during the intervention, as required, and check the criminal record of the person who possesses the weapon."