Shotgun Politics

As dusk fell over the seine estuary in northern France on the evening of July 21, the muzzle-flash of hidden guns lit up the gathering night. Burly men in paramilitary garb emerged from foxholes dug into the sand and set upon the gendarmes sent to investigate, driving them away with a hail of blows.

Anarchist insurrection? No, just French country folk defending what they see as their right to hunt migrant birds and waterfowl during the closed season the European Commission insists is necessary to protect their numbers. The hunters...