Looking forward to the pictures. I'm curious, is it difficult or easy to buy firearms in France.
It is possible, more or less difficult and under constraints depending on the sport you are willing to do.
Hunting :
Over 16 to participate and share a shotgun
Over 18 for a full license
Passing the licence : 4h group class, plus 2h individual exam (mostly a ball-trap session with an examiner, and a MCQ test). As for now license is for life.
Shotguns and rifles : no limit within the hunting category
Acquisition: buy one, get home with it immediately
Taxes : ~ $200/year small game, for big game: add something like $20
Local club : anything from $50 to hundreds $ / year. The club can and sometimes do refuses newcomers
Ball-trap:
As far as I know it's like hunting without the license (so some people starts ball-trap basically to own a legal shotgun).
It's surprisingly easy, for now, but read buying a gun below...
Range shooting:
First you must find a club (range are private, or non profit associations) with free seats, you may wait for a few months for a seat depending on the local conditions
License: a MCQ test is done on your first days at the club, a target practice exam must have >= 80% on 50 shots at 27 yards. Just make holes it doesn't matter where.
Many clubs require 6 months with CO2 before allowing you to use firearms.
This practice has to be renewed 4 times per year to keep the license alive and allow you to ask for detention authorizations.
The club check your file before allowing you to have a seat (see below like buying a gun)
Buying a gun (common rules):
Be over 18
Have no criminal records (jail time, agressive behavior, psychiatric conditions, of course no state security related cases or even suspicions). Your file is checked by the armorer every single time you buy a firearm.
Hunters : shotgun and rifle, buy and get home with it
Range shooters : a maximum of 12 detention authorizations are given by the authorities, renewable every 5 years (so basically the state own your firearms, you pay for it and have a pass to keep it or you must sell it, prove the destruction or non reversible deactivation)
Before giving an authorization your files are checked, the authorities may conduce investigation if something doesn't look right.
At any given time your authorizations may be revoked, just be a good citizen and it goes pretty well.
All kinds of EDC are forbidden, to transport a (secured and locked) firearm you must have a purpose : go to the range, go hunting...
I'm not complaining, in EU some countries are worse than that really. I guess we should feel lucky to have traditions about hunting, else it would have been absolutely dissuasive.
To which state does the French rules look like ? California ?