New Year’s Eve seems a while ago now. For most people, it’s a joyous occasion. Friends, families and loved ones join together to ring in the new year with a glass or two of bubbles. For me personally, New Year’s Eve beats Christmas, and this one in particular was especially good.
I don’t think 31-year-old Dino Campana would have felt the same way though, given that he was shot in the leg by Emanuele Pozzolo, an MP and lawmaker for Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia party. I would be pretty miffed too, if that’s how I rang in 2024. It’s not yet known exactly what happened, and no assumptions can be made as to whether or not the MP meant to shoot Dino Campana. The key facts are that the incident happened in Rosazza, a small town in the northern Piedmont region, and more than 30 people, including children, were in attendance.
What’s more, in a twist so absurd that it’s scarcely believable, the party was hosted by the undersecretary of state for justice, Andrea Delmastro. Campana (who is fine by the way – just a graze) is Delmastro’s son-in-law. No one knows why Pozzolo was carrying a gun, let alone why he had brought it to a family New Year’s Eve party, but he was supposedly showing it off to fellow party guests before it went off. A witness told the national news agency, Ansa: “We didn’t even have time to ask Pozzolo what he was doing and perhaps to put the weapon away, since there were also children at the party.”
Pozzolo has since been placed under investigation for grievous bodily harm and has been suspended from his party. Another six firearms he owns were confiscated by the police. He denies firing the gun, and was tested for gunshot residue the day after the episode. Pozzolo’s case is not an isolated one. He is a small part of a much wider issue Italy faces with guns. Within the G8, Italy has the second highest rate of gun crimes after the US even though, unlike in the US, Italians do not have the fundamental right to bear arms.
What’s even more surprising is that there are no hard statistics available for the number of guns in circulation at present. According to state police figures, Italians held 1.2m gun licences in 2021. But that doesn’t cover how many guns each licence-holder has. There are no more recent statistics.
What has been updated, though, is the number of gun-related deaths. A whopping 37% of murder victims in 2022 were killed with a gun. It was noted as the most common method of homicide for that year.
This is not to claim that Italy is the Wild West. It is far from it, and gun laws here are very strict. To get a licence you must be over 18, have a certificate from a shooting range to prove you can use the firearm safely, have a clean criminal record, and state that you are not suffering from drug addiction or mental health problems. It doesn’t exactly scream cowboys.
What I am questioning, though, is whether the public follow the law. I’m not convinced they do. Pozzolo’s blunder happened in a little town in the middle of nowhere. What if you take it to city level? On the same night, 12 people were injured with guns in Naples, and one woman suffered a very serious gunshot wound. Elly Schlein, leader of the opposition Democratic Party, was right to question Meloni about what she would do following the shooting.
But the problem will persist unless harsher measures, and more gun-based education, are put in place. Campana was lucky; he lived to see the new year. The woman in Naples did not.
