Opinion
Ft Collins, CO –-(Ammoland.com)- “Prepared” is present tense. “Victim” is past tense. “Justice,” in theory, can be either, but most agree that no justice exists in past tense.”~ Frank Sharpe
Just when we thought weeniefied, pusillanimous descendants of Celts, Vandals, Saxons, Vikings, Normans, Huns, Gauls, Goths, et al in Western Europe had voluntarily submitted to mandatory castration, a ray of sunshine breaks through in, of all places, sunny Italy.
Matteo Salvini, a daring, pro-gun, pro-police, pro-freedom populist, and Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister, has struck a resonant chord among his weary countrymen.
In September, Salvini engineered legislation that eased Italy’s gun laws, de-restricting military small arms and making it possible to Italian citizens to own them.
He is also re-defining the legal definition of legitimate self-defense, making criminal prosecutions of citizens who bravely defend themselves from violent criminals, less likely.
“Defense is always legitimate,” Salvini states audaciously, and adds , “Owning a gun is ‘do-it-yourself’ security.”
And, he is just getting started.
Of course “Guns-for-me-but-not-for-thee” Communists and assorted other “progressive leftists” are horrified. And, their horror is exacerbated, as Salvini also wants to actually take control of Italy’s porous borders, and start deporting illegal immigrants.
Salvini says he is on the side of honorable, decent, tax-paying Italian citizens, and just wants to give them a reasonable chance to effectively defend themselves from violent criminals. Citizens are enthusiastically responding by applying for licenses, and buying guns, at a record, and accelerating, pace.
Italy’s previous, leftist government put austere limits on how many weapons licensed citizens could own. And, in order to be issued a “gun license” in Italy, citizens must provide a doctor’s certification that they are in “good mental health.” So, you had to “prove” you are NOT crazy.
The new law doubles the number of weapons licensed citizens can own, and also eliminates limits on magazine capacity.
Of course, what frightens Communists and other anti-gun leftists, there and here, is that an increasing number of violent criminals will be shot to death by potential victims, before they can carry-out their violent crimes. Leftists depend upon high rates of violent crime to keep populations frightened and dependent. Thus for leftists, violent criminals are a great and protected asset. Obviously, leftists don’t want to see their numbers reduced.
All human lives are not of equal value.
What the liberalization of gun laws does is alter the percentage of violent criminals killed, versus good and decent, armed citizens.
When citizens are armed, we see more dead violent criminals, fewer dead innocent victims, and that fact is horrifying to leftists (who are themselves neither good, nor decent)
In any event, this outcome is not unimportant to potential victims of violent criminals whose lives were saved via precision gunfire.
The only “security” is personal.
“Can any of you seriously say the Bill of Rights could get through Congress today? It wouldn’t even get out of committee.” ~ F Lee Bailey
/John
About John Farnam & Defense Training International, Inc
As a defensive weapons and tactics instructor John Farnam will urge you, based on your own beliefs, to make up your mind in advance as to what you would do when faced with an imminent lethal threat. You should, of course, also decide what preparations you should make in advance if any. Defense Training International wants to make sure that their students fully understand the physical, legal, psychological, and societal consequences of their actions or in-actions.
It is our duty to make you aware of certain unpleasant physical realities intrinsic to the Planet Earth. Mr. Farnam is happy to be your counselor and advisor. Visit: www.defense-training.com
I am a gunwriter living and working in Italy (I work for GUNSweek.com) and I must point out that Italian gun laws haven’t been “eased” at all. We obtained a lenient implementation of the 2017/853 European firearms directive (a.k.a. the #EUGunBan) and that’s pretty much it. Let’s get detailed: • “In September, Salvini engineered legislation that eased Italy’s gun laws, de-restricting military small arms and making it possible to Italian citizens to own them.” This bullshit has been spewed by the anti-gunners on all mainstream media, because the Italian implementation of the European firearms directive did not instate a full… Read more »
Thank you Matteo Salvini! Thanks for having the courage to do the right thing. For years Italians could own shotguns but rifles and handguns were frowned upon. Didn’t stop the Mafia though. Military style weapons…..I might go for an extended vacation there!
See the post above from an Italian. It’s apparently barely any improvement at all.
Yes, Pierangelo is right. New law also introduces new requirements ti own certain types or guns . For example you must né a licensed collector or a certified ” sporting shooter” to own demilitarized weapons ( full auto converted to semi auto) and High capacity magazines. So we can say that gun laws are even stricter
Bring that man here.
Great article. F. Lee Bailey was even wiser and smarter than I thought.
“And yes, that will require the deportation of millions of savages, first.”
Yep Liberty, your most correct. That’s one heck of a flood to control though! Europe and the Scandinavian countries are ALL being inundated with them. (us too)
The modern democrat party are THE domestic enemies our Founders warned us about. This cancerous ideology has been imported primarily from Europe and Russia. I’m glad there are still a few Italians who have retained some sanity, but IMO, I’m going to have to see radical, wholesale changes to that entire continent before I’ll believe they’ll be able to save themselves. And yes, that will require the deportation of millions of savages, first.
Well, it’s a step in the right direction for Italy. Don’t agree with the bashing of the piece you wrote though. Perhaps some of the basher’s should take up your line of work.They’d make millions. But I thought it was a pretty good article. Thanks.
John – funny article.
I think you meant descendents of the Vikings, Celts etc.
It’s good to see Italy turn towards gun ownership.
Given that they are socialists, it will be interesting to see if the common man can take on the responsibility of owning a firearm.
They have not been held responsible for much in their lives.
John,
you say they have not been held responsible for much in their lives, you mean like our politicians, corporations, banks, wall street, military, federal reserve etc.etc.
“Doubled the number of guns citizens can own”
From what number to what number?
Ended magazine restrictions.
How many could you have before?
Does it legalize concealed carry or just gun collecting?
This article is good news, but seems to have beeen written by a high school journalism student.
From 6 to 12 ” sporting weapons”. You can have how many magazines you want but for High capacity magazines ( more than 10 round for rifles and 20 for pistols) you must be a licensed collector or a certified sporting shooter. These mags must be registered to police. Before the limit was 5/15. Anyway these mags can bè used only on ” sporting” classified guns. This is a brief summary, new law introduces stricter requirements for certain types or guns. “assault” semiauto weapons have always been available in italy