Caorach, I am of the opinion that your idea carries some serious truths in it, & I would deffo give it a go in one of the frog papers too!
As you might imagine it was written as a sort of joke, but there is a lot of truth in it. I don't speak any French so the papers might be out but I sent the following to the President:
Dear Sir,
After some discussion with associates who shoot for sport it is clear that it is a major source of annoyance that France does not allow the use, or transit, of rifles which you deem to be "military calibres" including the 308 Winchester which would be one of the most popular sporting rifle calibres here in the UK.
When my relatives went "over the top" at the Somme on 1st July 1916, each with a military calibre rifle in their hands, France was so grateful for their sacrifice that their names are now engraved on the Arc de Triomphe. It is also the case than when they went ashore on 1st July 1944 to liberate your country from German occupation, again with military calibre rifles in their hands, your country had no objections to their presence and did not ask them to leave their rifles behind.
Here in the UK we are grateful for the manner in which you remember their sacrifice and for the way the people of your country tend the graveyards and respect their memory.
With these points in mind might I ask if it would be possible, at least for citizens of the UK almost all of whom will have relatives who died liberating your country, to exercise some relaxation of this ban on military calibre rifles so we might travel to your country for sport and might travel through your country with our rifles. I don't think this is a lot to ask as our rifles are no more powerful or dangerous than many others that are available in your country and, in view of the fact that our relatives paid the ultimate price to defend your nation, it is highly unlikely that we are going to harbour any desire to overthrow your government.
I would be most grateful if you would give this matter your consideration as clearly, as well as the symbolic significance, there would probably be considerable economic benefit for your country in terms of income from those who would travel to shoot for sport.
I would suggest that others should also write on a similar subject, the address for a web submission is as follows:
http://www.elysee.fr/ecrire/
If you would rather write then the address is:
Monsieur le Président de la République
Palais de l'Elysée
55, rue du faubourg Saint-Honoré
75008 Paris
If you are going to ignore these and hope that someone else writes and sorts it out for you then don't come on here complaining if you can't take your rifle to/through France.