France - Stephen P. Halbrook

2012] WHY CAN’T WE BE LIKE FRANCE? 1653
caliber (and thus interchangeable ammunition) were distinguished
from civilian arms. 108
As set forth below, in 1789 commoners
demanded recognition of their right to keep and bear arms, and that
right was proposed for inclusion in what became the Declaration of
Rights.
A. Cahiers de Doléances (Statements of Grievances)
1. The Third Estate Demands a Right to Keep and Bear Arms
In 1788, in the wake of fiscal crisis and political uncertainty, King
Louis XVI called a meeting of the Estates-General for May 1789, the
first since 1614, to seek consent for new taxes and administrative
changes. 109
As part of this process, thousands of assemblies passed
Statements of Grievances (cahiers de doléances) and sent them to
higher assemblies or to the Estates-General. 110
The Estates-General
consisted of deputies representing the three estates—clergy, nobility,
and commoners. 111
The demands by commoners were stated conservatively because
they had no hopes of major changes. 112
The cahiers de doléances by
the Third Estate (Du tiers-état) demanded recognition of the right to
keep and bear arms for all, while those by the nobility demanded
stricter enforcement of restrictions on arms possession by
commoners. 113
The Third Estate uniformly demanded the right to keep arms in
one’s house, and in some cases, to carry arms. For instance, the
province of Agenois declared that freedom gives every citizen the
right to seek personal security; therefore, every citizen shall be
permitted to keep arms in his house for defense of himself and his
108. Adler, supra note 106, at 172.
109. See GILBERT SHAPIRO & JOHN MARKOFF, REVOLUTIONARY DEMANDS: A
CONTENT ANALYSIS OF THE CAHIERS DE DOLÉANCES OF 1789, at xxvi (1998);
MICHAEL P. FITZSIMMONS, THE NIGHT THE OLD REGIME ENDED: AUGUST 4, 1789,
AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 2-3 (2003).
110. SHAPIRO & MARKOFF, supra note 109, at xxvi.
111. Id. at 101.
112. Id. at 135 (explaining that peasants, in March 1789, asked for a reform in the
lord’s hunting rights, rather than their abolition, not because they have been fooled
or frightened but because they feel that they can obtain no more).
113. Secondary sources note, without much detail, grievances by commoners
including the nobles’ exclusive privileges of hunting and bearing arms, and demands
for the return of confiscated arms. See, e.g., id. at 146, 153, 258, 385, 393-94, 411. This
Article is the first study known to the author to detail comprehensively grievances
related to the right to bear arms.