{"id":666,"date":"2026-06-25T01:02:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T05:02:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/english\/permis-darme-a-feu-la-psyche-des-tireurs-sous-haute-surveillance\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T01:02:04","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T05:02:04","slug":"permis-darme-a-feu-la-psyche-des-tireurs-sous-haute-surveillance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/english\/permis-darme-a-feu-la-psyche-des-tireurs-sous-haute-surveillance\/","title":{"rendered":"Firearms license. The psyche of shooters under high surveillance?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-89254 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/psyche.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"436\" srcset=\"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/psyche.jpg 800w, https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/psyche-768x419.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>With each news item involving firearms, the same observation emerges: the shooter often had a valid license and a clean criminal record. To fill this blind spot, some are calling for the establishment of compulsory psychiatric examinations and psychological tests. A false good idea for some, an essential prevention tool for others.<\/p>\n<p>This is a flaw that traditional administrative controls struggle to close. Today, in the majority of Western countries, obtaining a hunting or sport shooting license is based on strictly factual criteria: the absence of a criminal history, a general medical certificate and the successful completion of a handling examination. However, these administrative filters remain blind to an individual&rsquo;s intimate setbacks, sudden impulses or psychological disorders. Faced with this, the idea of \u200b\u200bimposing a mental health assessment before purchasing a weapon is deeply divisive.<\/p>\n<h2>Detecting the invisible through medical expertise<\/h2>\n<p>For supporters of increased control, assessing the mental health and psychological profile of a gun buyer is a matter of common sense. A clean criminal record is in no way a guarantee of emotional stability. Major psychiatric disorders \u2013 such as underlying paranoia or suicidal tendencies \u2013 can brew in an individual without the justice system ever being aware of them.<\/p><div id=\"linit-3774491061\" class=\"linit-dans-le-contenu linit-entity-placement\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-8992136571741975\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px;\" \ndata-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8992136571741975\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"6185130430\"><\/ins> \n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cOwning a weapon is not an absolute right, it is an immense responsibility,\u201d argue the arms control associations. They point out that many security professions, starting with law enforcement, must undergo psychotechnical tests and psychological interviews before touching a service weapon. Why would it be any different for an ordinary citizen wishing to acquire a shotgun or a large caliber rifle? According to public health experts, a compulsory psychiatric examination would make it possible to curb impulsive homicides, linked to neighborhood or family conflicts, as well as suicides, which represent the majority of firearm deaths.<\/p>\n<h2>The mirage of the perfect evaluation<\/h2>\n<p>However, the scientific community and shooters&rsquo; associations share deep skepticism about the real effectiveness of these tests. On a technical level, a standardized psychological test is far from infallible. A determined candidate can easily bias their answers during a written questionnaire to project the image of a perfectly balanced citizen. Furthermore, a psychiatric examination only validates the state of mental health of a patient at a given time; he cannot anticipate a future psychological collapse caused by a personal tragedy (divorce, dismissal).<\/p>\n<p>Beyond reliability, the medical profession is concerned about the ethical abuses of such a measure. Systematically associating a mental health disorder, such as temporary depression, with criminal dangerousness is a scientific shortcut. The risk is also to accentuate stigmatization: fearing of losing their license or having their passion prohibited, many shooters in psychological distress could choose to wall themselves in silence and never consult a psychiatrist or psychologist.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, the logistical obstacle turns out to be colossal. Who would administer these exams? In France, for example, regulations already require a specialized certificate for people with a proven psychiatric history. Generalizing this obligation to each applicant would create a major bureaucratic and financial bottleneck for already saturated health systems.<\/p>\n<h2>The map of human vigilance<\/h2>\n<p>Faced with these limitations, several governments prefer to rely on continuous behavioral assessment rather than a fixed medical examination. This is particularly the case in Canada, where the Royal Canadian Mounted Police emphasizes an exhaustive verification of the applicant&rsquo;s life history (distress calls made, reports of domestic violence) combined with the obligation to provide references from relatives or ex-spouses.<\/p>\n<p>In shooting clubs, instructors also advocate the principle of peer supervision. In Quebec, the compulsory passage through certification of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fqtir.qc.ca\/les-etapes-a-suivre\/loi-9\/\">Quebec Shooting Federation<\/a> (Law 9) allows coaches to evaluate, in the field and over several hours, the behavior, stability and strict compliance with safety instructions by an aspiring shooter.<\/p>\n<p>The quest for zero risk in firearms remains an ongoing challenge. If the evaluation of the psyche offers an attractive avenue on paper, the complexity of the human mind and logistical realities suggest that the vigilance of those around us, the traceability of incidents and the monitoring of professionals in the field remain, for the moment, the most pragmatic defenses.<\/p>\n<p>Martine Dallaire, B.B.A.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"screen-reader-text\">Article navigation<\/h2>\n<div id=\"linit-3243896064\" class=\"linit-apres-contenu linit-entity-placement\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-8992136571741975\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px;\" \ndata-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8992136571741975\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"6185130430\"><\/ins> \n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With each news item involving firearms, the same observation emerges: the shooter often had a valid license and a clean criminal record. To fill this blind spot, some are calling for the establishment of compulsory psychiatric examinations and psychological tests. A false good idea for some, an essential prevention tool for others. This is a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":667,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/psyche.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Permis d\u2019arme \u00e0 feu. La psych\u00e9 des tireurs sous haute surveillance ?","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-societe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}