Nanterre massacre

At approximately 1:11 a.m. (CEST), ==Perpetrator==

The perpetrator in the shootings was Richard Durn, 33, who lived in Nanterre. He was on welfare and lived with his mother. His mother, from Slovenia, had fled in 1958 with her husband to escape the Soviet political regime. Durn was an unintended pregnancy, born out of wedlock to an unknown father, and shortly after his birth his mother divorced her husband. In the letters he stated he wished to kill people and himself to "give himself the illusion of having been important"; he did not mention elected officials or any of the victims. ==Aftermath==

}} An official tribute was paid to the victims on 2 April, in the presence of President Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and Interior Minister Daniel Vaillant. Durn was interrogated at the police station at 36 Quai des Orfèvres, Paris. He said that he had fired without targeting person or political party, except for the mayor Jacqueline Fraysse, who he had targeted on purpose, "for her quality as mayor and as the embodiment of an irremovable apparatchik, creating a system of clientelism and typical representative of the hypocritical red bourgeoisie." He also said that he wanted to die "because I am a thing, a piece of trash". Also, many right-wing polemical voices rose to demand the dissolution of the political party to which Richard Durn belonged, which will have no effect. Three days before the first round of the presidential election, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin proposed 9 measures to tighten up the arms legislation. Following the example of Tony Blair in 1998, one of the measures planned was to confiscate without compensation all handguns with central percussion legally held by sport shooters. Reactions were numerous, notably via the Internet, and contributed to the failure of candidate Jospin in the first round. The sports shooters noted the State's shortcomings and its inability to operate its administrative monitoring system for weapons subject to authorization or declaration. The Prime Minister nevertheless tried to pass his text urgently between the two rounds. This will be rejected by the Constitutional Council on a technical point, a "consultation" meeting had not had time to be organized. With also the attempted attack by Maxime Brunerie against President Jacques Chirac on 14 July 2002, the State nevertheless tightened its legislation on the practice of sport shooting with the law for internal security (LSI) of 18 March 2003. A medical certificate is now required to apply for possession of a firearm. The psychiatric history is checked with the Departmental Directorate of Health and Social Affairs (DDASS). The prefectural services have been instructed to react when the expiry date of the authorizations has passed. The .22 LR caliber rifles classified in 7th category cease to be sold over the counter. Their acquisition is limited to holders of a hunting license or a shooting license. == Legacy ==

The massacre was discussed by French philosopher Bernard Stiegler in his book, Acting Out. Stiegler argues that Durn's feeling of non-existence was symptomatic of a society which tends to destroy the love of oneself and others, and that Durn's actions represent a "hyper-diachronic" acting out which is made possible by this feeling of non-existence. == See also==