In France, Shopkeepers Arming Themselves

Shopkeepers in Paris are stocking up on iron bars, batons, tear gas canisters, pepper spray, and baseball bats, all in anticipation of more mob violence and looting. After the events of the past week, they no longer trust that the police will adequately protect them, and are determined to defend themselves. Firearms are illegal, but that has not prevented some people from taking a risk and stocking up on guns. More on this, the first battle of what some French commentators have called a “civil war,” can be found here: “Self-Defence Weapons Sales Surge in Paris Ahead of Anticipated ‘Act II’ Riots on Saturday,” by Oliver JJ Lane, Breitbart, October 24, 2026:

Firearms dealers in Paris have reported a massive surge in sales of non-lethal deterrents, including high-powered pepper spray guns, as shopkeepers reportedly stock up on telescopic batons, baseball bats, and iron bars ahead of anticipated trouble on Saturday….

In fact, the police and gendarmes were out in much greater numbers on October 24 — 70,000 of them — than had been the case the previous weekend. A total of 410,000 protesters came out as well, fewer than the 550,000 who demonstrated the week before, and the violence was largely contained, with 1,300 arrests. Still, some shops were looted in Paris, Marseille, and Bordeaux.

While a city spokesman would not comment on why demand was rising, the gun shop owner interviewed by Flensburger Tageblatt confirmed from speaking to his customers they were afraid of being robbed, of their children “being the victims of abuse.”

“After the recent incidents, many concerned parents come to us to equip their daughters”, he said. Even a police officer had come to buy pepper spray for his wife and daughter. Officially local police condemned the trade, remarking that people preparing to defend themselves would cause others to be provoked.

In Germany in 2016, the sales of pepper spray spiked after the number of robberies and rapes by Muslim migrants had risen vertiginously. This was just one year after former Chancellor Angela Merkel threw open the gates of Germany to migrants, declaring to her countrymen that “Wir schaffen das!,” or “We can do this!” It turned out that no, they couldn’t successfully integrate Muslim migrants into German society. And now, fast forward to 2016, and the Muslims have joined the French protests, turning it to their advantage. They form the shock troops of destruction, known in French as the “casseurs” (people who smash things), and have been in the forefront of the looters.

And quite sensibly, the threatened shopkeepers of France are no longer relying solely on the police and gendarmes to protect their property. They are loading up on defensive weapons — pepper spray, batons, tear gas canisters, iron canisters, projectiles, the JPX — a four-shot pistol loaded with cartridges of irritant and compressed air, and whatever else they can get their hands on. And despite the risk they take — privately-owned guns are illegal — some shopkeepers are also managing to find guns and are prepared to use them to defend themselves and their property.

These violent protests, and the French shopkeepers responding by arming themselves, to many look like the opening battle in the “civil war” that French military men have been warning about. In April 2021, the right-wing magazine Valeurs Actuelles published a letter that 20 retired generals and over 1,000 active and retired service members signed. It accused President Emmanuel Macron’s government of making concessions to “Islamism,” losing control of Muslim immigrant suburbs (banlieues), and facing social disintegration. A second letter was published at the same site a month later, in May 2021, this time on behalf of younger, active-duty soldiers who said they had served in Afghanistan, Mali, and Central Africa. It reiterated the warning that a “civil war is brewing,” and stated that the military would maintain order on its own soil if an insurrection broke out.

That was the first open mention of a “civil war” possibly breaking out between Muslims and the French; since those letters from French officers were published five years ago, the situation has only gotten worse. The outbreak of mass rioting, looting, destruction, and attacks on the forces of order this month have brought home to the French the threat from both Muslims and from the far-left members of La France Insoumise, which the communist Jean-Luc Mélenchon leads, who have allied themselves with the Muslims. One can only hope that the National Rally will win the next election in 2027, and Marine Le Pen will call a halt to Muslim migrants, deny welfare benefits to all migrants during the first five years of their presence in the country, deport all those convicted of crimes after they have completed their sentences, and also return to their countries of origin all those migrants who have shown themselves to be both unable and unwilling to integrate into the larger society.