Firearms dealers across Paris have reported a massive surge in sales of non-lethal deterrents, including high-powered pepper spray guns, telescopic batons, baseball bats, and iron bars, as merchants stock up ahead of anticipated unrest on Saturday. The rush follows widespread rioting and looting in several French cities during the previous weekend, an event that prompted government acknowledgments that police had been slow to respond and allowed officers to lose control of streets in certain areas.
With public faith in state protection at a low point, merchants in the Ile-de-France region are moving to secure their commercial properties. The president of the National Trade Association of Gunsmiths noted that business owners feel vulnerable and unsupported by law enforcement. According to the association, individuals fear being repeatedly targeted and prefer to take defense into their own hands rather than suffer repeated losses.
The association advised members to remain law-abiding citizens while warning that a failure by police to restore order would create serious complications. Comparing the unprecedented rush for defensive gear to the heavy demand for air conditioning units during a sweltering summer, representatives noted that inventories across gun shops are nearly depleted.
Central Paris gun shops report telephones ringing constantly as customers seek out legal, license-free defensive items, including pepper spray, tear-gas projectors, and pistols that fire rubber balls using compressed gas. Among the most popular products is the JPX, a four-shot pistol loaded with cartridges containing a dense Oleoresin Capsicum blend extracted from cayenne pepper. This patented formula possesses a stinging capacity measured at 400,000 Scoville Heat Units, making it one of the most powerful irritants available on the commercial market.
One central Paris gun store owner reported that sales figures have multiplied tenfold as traumatized shopkeepers seek protection. While owning actual firearms for self-defense remains strictly illegal, some merchants are willing to acquire crude implements like iron bars as a last-resort anti-looting measure, with one business owner declaring that enough is enough.
The president of the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Alain Di Crescenzo, described the prevailing mood among business owners as one of exhaustion, noting that shopkeepers face a dual crisis involving economic survival and physical safety.
Similar surges in demand for non-lethal defense gear in regulated European markets have historically followed major security incidents, mirroring purchasing spikes recorded after the November 2015 terror attacks in Paris and the October 7 attacks in Israel. Comparable runs on defensive supplies have been documented during past civil unrest in Germany and Sweden, where citizens sought out pepper spray and blank-firing handguns amid heightened crime and public safety concerns.
