[Possession of weapon and hunting license: the role of the physician].

In France, the physician can inform the prefect that a patient, detaining weapon and followed for a pathology (psychiatric notably), is dangerous. Then, it comes back to the prefect to appreciate the appropriate measurements to take, notably to order the delivery of weapon and ammunitions. In France, the doctor can be solicited to establish the necessary medical certficates during requests of approval or acquisition and having guns for hunting and sports shooting, or to obtain the licence of hunting. The acquisition and the possession of certain weapon cannot be granted if the applicant is a protected person over 18, was or is hospitalized, without his consent, owing to mental disturbances or, is in a physical or psychical state apparently incompatible with the possession of weapon. But it appears that the access to this information by the prefects is made difficult by the absence of files centralizing these data. Question settles to institute an automated national file of hospitalizations under pressure, which could be consulted prior to the deliverance or the approval of possession of weapon for hunting and as sports shooting. In our opinion, this should be made, in a strictly supervised manner, through a sworn doctor, systematically solicited as part of the licence of hunting and licence of shooting, to liberate the family practitioners of an expertise role.