I order to follow-up on Lancaster’s post, please find below some additional information; hunting rifles/shotguns are classified into various categories in France each of them subject to specific acquistion requirements, in short:
• Most hunting rifles/shotguns can be bought directly from a gunshop providing that you present a valid ID Card as well as a valid shooting/hunting licence. Until summer 2018 it was still possible to sell directly your rifles to another registered hunter/shooter but now the sale has to be endorsed by a registered gunshop; in addition to allowing the government more control on the people, this decision is also motivated by the fact that registered gunshop have now access to the government’s online list of people not allowed to detain weapons (criminal record, mental illness, etc.). Once the sale endorsed by the gunshop, information about new ownership is forwarded to the relevant French authorities (the equivalent of the US BATF).
• = all hunting rifles/shotguns are allowed providing that semi-automatic one cannot fire more than 3 rounds without reloading, total length is more than 80 cm and barrel is not shorter than 45 cm.
• Almost all hunting ammunition are now allowed, including 6,5x54 MS, .308, 30-06, 7x57, 8x57 JS, etc. (all former general issue ammunition in previous conflicts), which was not the case until a couple of years ago. Ammunition still subject to specific permission (filing more paperwork) are the 7,62 x 39 Russian; 5,56 x 45 (the military version of the hunting .223); 5,45 x 39 Russian; 12,7 x 99; and 14,5 x114 mainly.
• There is no limitation in France on the number of ‘standard’ hunting rifles/shotguns that an individual can own as well as on the number of associated ammunition that can be purchased.
• As above mentioned, these ‘standard’ hunting rifles/shotguns are subject to declaration of ownership to the local authorities i.e. you can buy first providing that you are entitled to buy and then the gunshop declares the ownership. Other categories of weapons such as hand-weapons, semi-automatic rifles with large magazine capacity, full-automatic ones , etc. are subject to authorization to buy first i.e. you file a request for buying a specific type of weapon/serial number and have to wait for permission first before taking it from the gunshop; the number of such weapons an individual can own is limited, as well as the number of ammunition one can purchase annually.
• Unless getting a specific permission delivered by the government, which is extremely difficult to get, it is not allowed to carry weapons either concealled or not in France, unless being on hunting grounds. When going to the shooting range or to the hunting grounds, your weapon(s) must be stored unloaded in such a way one won’t have direct access to it (most people load it in the car’s trunk/boot); ammunition must also be stored separately from the weapon.
• Individuals are not allowed to detain tanks, missile launchers, submarines, etc.

In short, some form of government control in France but not as stringent as in some other Western European countries. The French people, mainly those with rural background, are fighting hard to keep the right to hold weapons and to hunt, which they got from the French Revolution. There is a huge number of weapons (declared and probably undeclared also) circulating in France : hunting ones, military ones from Allied Forces parachuting during WW2, and since more recently most modern stock that poured into Western Europe following the Yugoslavia wars in the 90’s.

Louis