PARIS (Sputnik) — The issue has been particularly high-profile after it became known that the perpetrator of Monday's attack on French police was legally carrying a firearm while simultaneously being flagged by authorities as "fiche S," an indicator given to individuals who pose a serious threat to national security.
"This particular case is the case of the dysfunction. The dysfunction is organizational, logistic, very practical. This morning at the session of the [French] Security Council, I asked the interior minister [Gerard Collomb] to present a plan of the specific actions within eight days. This means, firstly to change the administrative practices," Macron said at the press conference answering a question on the issue of the possibility of obtaining a license to bear arms while at the same time being listed as "fiche S."
At the current moment, the fiche S databases are only used by French intelligence agencies and are not shared with other governmental agencies, the president noted. Exceptions are made only to those prefectures which have issued licenses to bear arms, Macron specified.
"This is evidently not a satisfactory functioning and it has not allowed us to fight terrorism effectively. Thus, I have demanded the examination of the measures very specific and rapid to change this [situation]," Macron continued.
On Wednesday, Collomb sent the guidelines to local authorities to review the integrity of the files of those registered to legally bear arms, Macron said.
"I have demanded that all the legislative evaluations necessary to complete the integrity of these files to be included in the amendments of the draft [anti-terrorism] bill which had been this morning discussed by the [French] Council of Ministers," Macron pointed out.
On Monday, a man rammed a car into a gendarmerie, or armed police force, vehicle on the Champs-Elysees in the center of the Paris. The attacker died at the scene, as his car, loaded with weapons and explosives, caught on fire. No one else was injured in the attack.
