Three mosques shut down in anti-terror raids as officers seize 330 war weapons - France

a reply to: TheBulk

No, trump said he would monitor and spy on mosques. The NYPD did this for years and it led to no leads or arrests. Essentially it was a waste of time and tax dollars.

Also, France has declared a state of emergency. The U.S. clearly has not.

French Authorities Close Four Mosques During State of Emergency
France closes 'radical' Mosque after Huge Police Raid
France Shuts Down 3 Mosques Amid State of Emergency

These links to ease the ad hominem.

Claude Rains said it best!

www.youtube.com...

I don't understand why people think France has strict gun law. In many ways, they are more lax than the US.

With 19 million weapons and 31.2 guns per 100 inhabitants, France is the second most armed country in the European Union.
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For one thing, owning a gun in France is easier than you think. The law is incredibly loose for non-disguised weapons, shotguns, or hunting guns. Most of these weapons don’t need to be registered.

Acquiring small calibers (.17 HMR to caliber 410) and more sensitive weapons (20mm caliber, etc…) requires more paperwork, but the process remains within easy reach. All that is required is to submit a hunting license or a sporting license – issued by any sport federation, along with a certificate issued by your general practitioner. Some weapons require a criminal record check, and the mental health test is only demanded if the person has an established history of mental illness.

In France, shooting is considered a leisure activity – so it should come as no surprise that the French official website on arms regulation ranks all information pertaining to firearms possession in their ‘leisure’ category.

Getting a Gun In France: It Takes Less Than Two Hours

In a Youtube video posted by French pro-gun blog France Survivalist, a heavily gunned man boasts that you simply need to: “go to the doctor, ask for a certificate stating that you are fit to practice shooting, then go take a picture. It only takes five minutes. Then go to an approved shooting center and sign up for membership. They will give you a temporary shooting license – and contrary to what people will tell you, this temporary license will enable you to buy weapons.”
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Incidentally, France’s National Observatory for Delinquency reveals that the number of illegal weapons in France has been steadily growing at double-digit percentage rates for the last several years.
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The Internet also provides a marketplace to purchase illegal arms. Terrorists are a few clicks away from purchasing an AK-47 for under $2,000. Sketchy payment methods such as bitcoin make it virtually impossible to trace buyers.

In France, prosecutors have no clear and effective statute to use to punish gun traffickers. Infiltrating these networks is no easy task and requires time. Weak border control in the Schengen zone also makes it incredibly challenging to intercept illicit weapons in France.
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France has an issue with an easy access to a black market of guns, reused weapons from old wars accompanied by organized smuggling routes between a European Union that is very much still in a transitional phase and often caught short when handling inter nation conflict.

xpatnation.co...

Although part of the above article, I set this apart, just so it isn't missed:

France, along with the four other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council is a leading exporting country for weapons. It’s very possible (and ironic) that France’s own weapons end up in the French black market.

France is taking a reactionary position to this shooting. Back in October 2014,

police found piles of hundreds of weapons, including assault rifles, machine guns and automatic pistols while searching houses across the country. Forty-eight people were arrested in what turned out to be a major Internet weapon-smuggling ring, with its headquarters thought to be in Paris.

After the raid which exposed a sizeable amount of illegal weapons and then the Charlie Hebdo incident....you'd think they would have been a bit more scrutinizing. Now with the recent terrorist act, they might as well do a country wide sweep. Not that it will solve the problem but it will retrieve more illegal weapons. I just hope they don't start doing this in the US. It will be a permanent and ongoing job for some agency.

I'm not sure what to think of all this. I wouldn't want my place searched but I don't see how they can locate some of the illegal weapons if they don't search everyone.

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

All articles tells the same story.

I'm sorry, but they seized my ass.

Not one word on the specs of those "weapons of war", except for 9mm revolver lol.

In other words, pics or it didn't happen.

a reply to: zilebeliveunknown

Cazeneuve told parliament that there had been 2,235 searches leading to 263 arrests since the three-month state of emergency began.

"In 15 days we have seized a third of the weapons of war we would normally recover in a year," he said.

Of the 334 firearms seized, 145 were rifles and 34 assault weapons.

Cazeneuve said 330 people who had been under surveillance by the security services for links to radical Islam have been put under house arrest.

France closes 'radical' Mosque after Huge Police Raid

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

Specs, like specifications, something that more accurately describes those weapons.
Rifles and assault weapons just doesn't cut it.

a reply to: TheBulk

Can you please just explain why you guys don't go to these lengths to defend the greater majority of peaceful right wingers or conservatives?

Defend them from...?

Right now, Trump is leading the polls through pandering to peoples' irrational fears and prejudices. One might say that I'm trying to defend them from the likes of Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Frank Gaffney, Pamela Gellar, the Express UK, etc by calling into question the propaganda that is being used to drive a wedge between them and the rational members of society, conservative or otherwise.

This has quickly escalated beyond partisan identity politics and the use of fear mongering to drive media consumption. At this point people have been whipped into such a frenzy that they're willing to completely ignore everything we claim to stand for, toss aside the protections of our most fundamental civil liberties and accept the possibility of regressing to behavior that we've long since recognized as abhorrent.

When I'm applauding the words of Paul Ryan and Lindsey Graham is calling somebody a, "race-baiting, xenophobic religious bigot," I think it's pretty obvious that things have more than gotten out of hand. I don't think that Trump represents the majority of conservatives, it's clear from the statements today that he doesn't represent a consensus of conservative politicians.

That said, there are two issues:

1. He's one of the most covered Americans currently, domestically and internationally. Probably at this point, second only to the President. Regardless of how many people actually share his opinions (real or invented for political gain), they're being disproportionately broadcast around the world. That in of itself is a threat and you can bet that it's aiding ISIS recruitment as well as radicalizing moderate non-Muslims into what amounts to a complementary ideology. Who actually benefits from Trump's bullsh!t? Trump might as well be working for ISIS. I don't say that lightly.

2. In this country, we're barely hitting 50% voter turnout. We keep hearing that Trump is just a novelty and that he'll implode and time and time again, he's ratcheted up his rhetoric. In fact, every time somebody appears to be gaining ground, he just says something even more odious to the cheers of people who have bought into this insanity. Ted Cruz refused to condemn Trump because he's a religious fanatic himself and part of an extremist movement in this country, dominionism, that promotes an ideology not that different from that of ISIS. He pretends to be this strict constitutionalist but when push comes to shove, his religious beliefs clearly take precedence over his convictions about the protections of the Constitution.

It profoundly disturbs me to see the way my fellow Americans and people around the world are being manipulated, their brains infected with a virulent fear and hate that weakens their mental immune systems and makes them susceptible to radicalization. I'm concerned with Muslim extremism but at this point, as an American, I'm more concerned about whats being done in my own country.

a reply to: zilebeliveunknown

Specs, like specifications, something that more accurately describes those weapons.

Rifles and assault weapons just doesn't cut it.

And why not?

originally posted by: Vasa Croe
Just some food for thought for those that continue to state Islam is peaceful...

Islam, the religion, and Xtianity, the religion, or any other 'religion', is neither violent or peaceful!
It is people who are either violent or peaceful.
We find a liberal sprinkling of all extremes, and the vast and broad spectrum in all religions!
What IS violent and peaceful, IF manifested in action, BY particular insane (or Enlightened) people, are many of the scriptures in various 'scripture'!
Enlightened people of all religion eschew the insanity of the violently barbarically parts of scripture, and focus on that which is... 'worthy' of healthy sane people!
The VAST majority of the violent crime in the US, for instance, is committed by US citizens, but no one claims that all Amerikkkans are murderers, that all Amerikkkans are criminals.
With more and more violent crime in US, still no one associates it with being an Amerikkkan!
But it is so easy to blame all Muslims.
That is what bigotry and racism are all about, the low of IQ not having to think, when they can just categorize, and dismiss/hate!

Rather than banning Islam, or Xtianity, or Amerikkkans, rather like putting a bandage over the world, expecting it to heal therefrom, perhaps the real problems lie deeper, and cut a bit closer to the bone for us all?
Are WE being the 'change that we want to see'?
Are WE flooding the world with Healing unconditional Love?
What example are WE showing each other, and the kiddies?
What we 'say' pales into vapor, in the face of the reality of who and what we are and do!

We don't mind trashing the Muslims for the behavior of a few, if we are bigots.

When 9/11 happened, rather than broad-brushing the world, as we tend to do, perhaps we should just have captured the perps and tried them, according to who and what we are supposed to be, and their deeds, rather than hysterically declaring war on the world that the perps came from?

The 'problem' lies much deeper than guns, or religions.
But, in our ignorance and insanity, we seem rather slow in that appreciation and knowledge!
So, kill all Muslims, and there'll be no more violence in the world? No more persecution?
Then you'd have to kill all the Xtians, also!
Wait, since no one deliberately harms another unless he hosts some 'belief' or other, we can kill all the believers.
Wait, you'd have to be a believer to do that.
I know, if we kill everyone, that will make the 'problem' go away.

Parenthetically, since the gene-pool is constantly being skimmed and adjusted, who is to say that every death is not exactly the right thing for that person at exactly that moment? That the murderers/soldiers/killers are not, ultimately, working for God for the good of humanity??

originally posted by: LesMisanthrope
a reply to: zilebeliveunknown

Specs, like specifications, something that more accurately describes those weapons.

Rifles and assault weapons just doesn't cut it.

And why not?

Critical thinking.
Where's the evidence?
Some pics, videos of raids, anything... zero
It doesn't sound any more valid just because its coming from authorities.

a reply to: zilebeliveunknown

Critical thinking.
Where's the evidence?
Some pics, videos of raids, anything... zero
It doesn't sound any more valid just because its coming from authorities.

It doesn't sound any less valid just because its coming from authorities either. Expanding the goalposts, however, is invalid, at least as far as critical thinking goes.

If you have evidence towards the contrary, feel free to post it.

originally posted by: LesMisanthrope
a reply to: zilebeliveunknown

Critical thinking.
Where's the evidence?
Some pics, videos of raids, anything... zero
It doesn't sound any more valid just because its coming from authorities.

If you have evidence towards the contrary, feel free to post it.

LOL, the authorities are saying that, with nothing to back that up.
I say, they are liars, so prove me wrong.

a reply to: zilebeliveunknown

LOL, the authorities are saying that, with nothing to back that up.
I say, they are liars, so prove me wrong.

Prove you're right. Until then, you have nothing.

originally posted by: LesMisanthrope
a reply to: zilebeliveunknown

LOL, the authorities are saying that, with nothing to back that up.
I say, they are liars, so prove me wrong.

Prove you're right. Until then, you have nothing.

Enjoy your "I wouldn't question anything coming from authorities."
Have a nice day/night sir.

originally posted by: Mianeye
a reply to: Vasa Croe

There are over 2300 mosques in France, and while these 3 represent only a fraction, they held what seems to be a lot of weapons and documents related to jihadist activity.

It doesn't say if the weapons were found at the Mosques, most likely the weapons are found in private homes, still shocking though .

It also doesn't say they weren't. Why were they "most likely" found in private homes? Because you don't want it to sound like they imply the religion is responsible? Why else change a 50/50 possibility into a "most likely".

www.telegraph.co.uk... .html

Makes you wonder who got this stuff now?

originally posted by: WeAreAWAKE

Why else change a 50/50 possibility into a "most likely".

Maybe you should take your own advice..

This thread is a great example of how some people read the headline only and jump straight to conclusions......

Another member has alluded to it but using the U.S as an example if they raided 2200 homes I wonder how many weapons they would find?...

The media do a much better job of keeping the fear alive than the actual terrorists will ever be able to.....

Three mosques shut down in anti-terror raids as officers seize 330 war weapons

That's something Americans will never hear being done here.

Cause it would be 'racist'.

Vivre France!