Grenade event in Auvergne-Rh™ne-Alpes, Givors-Grigny police station area, France on Thu 1st December 2022

The national operation for the surrender of found or inherited weapons, initiated by the Ministries of the Interior and Justice, ended on Friday 2 December. Individuals had one week to return their illegally held firearms. They could do so at police stations and gendarmeries but also at two other collection points: the Montluc police station in Lyon and the Villefranche-sur-Sa™ne gendarmerie barracks. The Givors-Grigny police station was overwhelmed. In one day it received the equivalent of an annual collection. "They even handed over grenades, including two plaster grenades [Editor's note: a practice grenade containing a low dose of explosive]", said Commander Vinzent. "People had not understood that for this type of device, they had to go directly to Montluc. Afterwards, some didn't want to go all the way to Lyon to get rid of them. The police station had to call in the bomb disposal services, which recovered them on Thursday 1 December. The stocks of weapons were evacuated over the days to Montluc to be destroyed.