MURDER IN FRANCE

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 May 1931, Page 8

MURDER IN FRANCE

EASY TRADE IN FIREARMS From time to time the murderous activities of the American gangster deceive Tjie Shocked attention of the French Press. “Yet although nothing ■in Europe can compare with the transA'tlanfrc scale of murder, the present statistic show that’the French people ; are wilfully! killing each other at the UpproSelinate rate of seventy-five each < month, or 2.5 a day. (writes the Paris, '[correspondent of the London “Times”). These figures are taken from the daily Press over a period of three months and may be incomplete. Most of the murderers are caught. To-accuse the -French people of hypocrisy because Mliey are : p'foperly shocked by the cf-. fects of American gang warfare would be a rank injustice. For organised mui'ller is unknown in France. Tlie great majority pf the French, people woulh undoubtedly deplore the conditfsii of affairs if they had a true knowledge of the facts. Most of the murders are sordid affairs which receive in the Press the space that, individually, they merit—a few lines in small type. Occasional newspaper ’articles', humorous, sardonic, or serious, draw attention to the Collective significance of crimes.. But it is plain that the public .imagination has yet to be moved, and that only when', it is moved will W imtfr-bvement come. ' . ... ■■ The 'international currency ot the words “crime passionel” fathers upon. 'Fran'de the ‘leadership ih crimes of ’this s6rt. Yet the Statistics tell a very different tale. In the compiling 'Cf the figures various 'details called for attention; motive, 'tlie sex of the victim, and the aggressor, the locality, the relationship, if any, between the principals, and the weapon used. From these figures it can be said that by ,'far the largest nuihber of murders •was dim to quarrels not arising : out of jealousy; that more than half of these quarrels were family affairs: <'a T nd’that three-quarters $ the qu.arrels,‘were'over mohey matters,

NATIONAL TEMPERAMENT The figures speak for themselves. In only 12 per cent, of . the total was jealousy'established as the'motive, Ap'prpxiijnhtely 7 per cent, were due io i‘obbeifr; over 10 per cent, were the rconsequences of quarrels and of this ’proppi'fion most were ovdr 'questions of The regaining crimes tferoty’t# such miscellaneous motives as despair, revcijge, aiid isp disposal of illegitimate, children. Foreigners, contributed their share, notably Italians and Poles, but by far the greater number of murders were committed by French people. ■ The victims were almost equally men and women. The aggressors were men 3 fii’'?E> v Sfer cdiit of fHe’case's.- Faris was’ responsible . for about 20 per cent. ‘o‘f ’tlm’ ! 't;p]mi, frje.provincial towns and ruraf'districts sha'ri'ng the remaining 80 per /ent. in about equal pr.opbrtioiife? Most of tlie murders arising ou£ 'of -jealousy and professional, robbery were Committed in the cities; ac'cording to frit) figures the peasant was the more susceptible to material issues than affronts to his pride. Since avarice, jealousy, 'and pi’ijle exist everywhere,'the causes of tlieir violent expression require explanation. THe most Obvious is national temperament—not merely the temperament-of the' criminal but of his fellow-citi-zens. Time after time —and this does, not apply to “crimes passionels” alone , —some jury of class and type as the would-be lynchers either acquits Ihe accused or recommends 'him to mercy. Again the figures prove this statement. Some of the culprits are sent to the penal-'settlement at Cheyenne, which is a retribution terrible enough. But the public knows little, and cares less, about Devil’s Island, and the moral effect .is nil. In any case the leniency Of juries is notorious, and two principal factors are responsible. The first 4s -that the Frenchman is easily affected by the skilled appeal to his emotions made by the maitre for the de(fence. The second is that almost inVariably the culprit urges in extenuaJjqn. that he was suddenly provoked. 'Let hTiy ’murderer admit or have proved against him premeditation and he <ib almost surely doomed. But if he /Can plead with any semblance of justification that he was unable to control himself his neck is safe. In most cases the contention is just. It is precisely because the murderer has not been able to master himself that he is a murderer.

v .'FORCE OF SUGGESTION I These murders of impulse depend I upon the means at hand —are, indeed, I 'often suggested by some convenient I weapon. The knife and the bludgeon f play their part, but firearms are v dhiefly responsible for the wholesale ' •slaugntjer. Almost every peasant has 'a gnir—preserves are rare in France, and shooting can be any man’s sport —and it is the gun which he uses in ■ this fury or his calculation. The urban ’ hnurdjepey nearly always uses the revolver. It is true that in France, as in any civilised State, every citizen . who. carries or possesses a revolver '“is rdffiiired to obtain a permit from jj'tjhe police, who satisfy themselves that ' ther,e is reasonable excuse for posses‘fsion and that the applicant is a fit *-person to carry firearms; and it is '.only fair to say that the unauthorised ' possession of firearms is heavily pun'ishedu "But it is. useless to shut one door and leave another open. Anyone in France but a mere child can buy q, revolver and ammunition withl out " the slightest difficulty and only <tffio pretence 'of formality. The (determined murderer is not go- ’ ing to be turned from his purpose iperely because firearms are not to be Obtained easily' But with a race which itsejf admits the shortcomings as well ■as the virtues of hot blood wisdom demands that the most easy and obvious instrument of attack is kept out of reach'so far as possible. The stringent ■police regulations o’n possession of firearms are themselves a recognition of . this fact; and there is no doubt .that, i„f th,e remedy lay in the hands of the men who have to cope with the unhappy results of the present laxity it would be as difficult to buy a revolver as legitimately to possess one. As things are. the solution lies in the .hands of the Legislature. It. has lain there, ignored for many years. It is commonly reported and commonly believed by the French people themselves: that the armament manufacturers are' not prepared to sec one of their most remunerative branches of “peaceful'’ activity cut. down to nothing, and that until less controversial but doubtless no less important, legislative problems have been solved, matters wijl.be left aS thev are. At. all events, there are no signs of immediate improvement, and unless some startling and sudden : change appears this blot on the daily life of an inherently kindly people seems likely to continue.