Hobbypickers pursuited?

[Blackliquid]

Hello everyone! Im new to lockpicking, just registered here. I went today to a local locksmith to ask if he had a repinning tool to sell, and i was pretty much chocked 'bout what he told me.
First, to clarify the situation, i live in france, am 17 yo.

First, i came into the shop, explained my hobby and asked for a repinning tool. I had a nice chat about locks with the junior 'till the master came in. The junior didnt know much about repinning, so i asked the master. Apart he never heard of repinning manually (without a machine who injects it from the bottom of the lock (we speak of dual euro locks)), he couldt understand that i did this as a hobby.
He told me that normally, would have been forced to call the local police that someone was asking suspect questions, and one time located by them i would have been responsabilized for every theft nearby. If theres a theft in my school and someone knows i own those picks, i would be responsabilized with no further evidence.
"If u show this in public, ull end up in Prison in notime one time ur 18".

He told me that one time he was controlled by the police and kept 6 hours for a questionnning because he hadnt had his authorization, but his picking tools with him, and they didnt event let him go for his shop to take it without 5 policeman with him...

"lockpicks are like guns, u cant wear them in public" He told me that it was forbidden to take lockpicks with me (selfmade) without authorization, and i would end up in prison for intended theft if a policeman would see me..

"security of the people isnt a hobby" He didnt believe me that thousands of peolpe out there see this otherwise


So, was he just telling shit or what's all the mess about? Is it ILLEGAL to POSESS lockpicks to pick locks you posess?
Hope you guys can enligthen me

- Chris

[raimundo]

There are some other lockpickers from france on this site, you could probably locate them by using the search function, they would be able to tell you what you need to know.
Locksmiths in business often discourage the hobbiest, sometimes with scare stories about them. NOT all locksmiths, some are from the modern age and understand that the internet is not going away.
Police also do not study the law as much as they study physical assault, many of them just make it up as they think it should be. Never take legal advice from a policeman, answer his questions by requesting a lawyer. Thats what a cop would do himself if questioned.

[pjzstones]

he's just blowing smoke. i've been told a lot of ridiculous stuff by locksmith that don't agree with hobby pickers and strongly believe in security by obscurity. he was just trying to scare you away from your interest in locks. don't listen to him and just use your own common sense.

[mh]

Obviously, laws are different in different parts of the world. Check with French people who may have researched this already.

[datagram]

I'd actually like if a French member could explain the laws and link to the appropriate legal pages (in whichever language) so that I could add the information to Lockwiki.com's legal page.

Laws vary quite a bit throughout the world, but sometimes people do not actually know what the laws are. In the USA many locksmiths would say the same thing, but few states actually have laws in line with public perception of the legality of lockpicking tools.

Any other information on different countries is also welcome, but if it is unrelated to France please PM the info to me instead.

dg