Genoa – There is an armed Italy, an Italy of legally held pistols and rifles. And then there is an underground country that possesses weapons illicitly, a pirate arsenal that increases the number of guns in circulation. According to the latest official data released by the Interior Ministry in 2022, There are 1,237,912 gun licenses in the country, of which 12,008 are for personal defense. Significant numbers, but still partial, both because it is not certain that each license corresponds to only one weapon and because the illegal and clandestine market cannot be taken into account. Precisely for this reason it is estimated that the number of pistols and rifles in Italy could exceed 10 million units. According to research by the international association 'Small arms survey' in Geneva, for example, there were 8.6 million weapons present on Italian territory in 2017.
Analyzing the official numbers published by the Ministry of the Interior in 2022, the majority of gun licenses granted (over 1 million) are for hunting (609,527) or clay pigeon shooting (574,842), followed by those for security guards (40,961 for short weapons and 574 for long weapons). Personal defense licenses – which must be renewed from year to year – are 11,785 for pistols and 223 for rifles. Numbers, the latter, which record a constant decline from year to year. Suffice it to say that in 2002 there were four times as many weapons carried for personal defense: 45,618 for pistols and 1,938 for rifles. However, licenses for clay shooting and security guards are increasing.
Even if you have a gun licence, the law prohibits transport in particular conditions, such as demonstrations or public meetings, with the risk of a fine or, in the most serious cases, arrest. According to a survey carried out by Euripes for the Ministry of the Interior in April 2023, “in Italy, unlike the USA, there is no culture of weapons, except in particular and minority environments”.
In fact, 44.8% of Italians consider the possession of firearms to be a danger, 19.2% believe that it is a right to be reserved only for particular categories exposed to risks and 18.4% think, however, that represents the possibility for any citizen to defend themselves from bad actors. Called to answer for themselves, the clear majority of those interviewed reveal a low propensity to purchase a weapon for self-defence: just over one interviewee in 4 (27.1%) states that they would do so, 72.9%, at otherwise, it wouldn't.
“The results – we read in the dossier – confirm a widespread cultural resistance in our country to the possession of weapons, also with a view to defending oneself and one's family from possible ill-intentioned people”.
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