Fazzolari: «Shooting in schools». She is stormy. Then the denial: “Never said, lawsuit” – Corriere.it

Teaching shooting in schools. Giovanbattista Fazzolari, FdI, undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, in a conversation with General Franco Federici, military adviser to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, would have expressed the hope of letting students experience shooting, in order to broaden the spectrum of sports in schools. «It is an activity that I think deserves the same dignity as other sports», the words attributed to Fazzolari, «there is a whole network of associations that can be involved and put in contact with the world of schools. There are very passionate and good guys who do it in their free time».

The denial

The words of the undersecretary, reported by The print, they were denied by the person concerned, who decided to sue: «What is reported is ridiculous and unfounded». According to Fazzolari’s version, the speech with Federici would instead have concerned the need to provide greater resources for the training of the armed forces and the police forces, also providing for “a privileged recruitment channel for athletes of sports such as parachuting, mountaineering and shooting disciplines. To this, the director of the newspaper, Massimo Giannini, replied: «We confirm word for word, it is unassailable and from a hundred percent reliable source. Conversely, the illogicality of the undersecretary’s “denial” is in the things: he mentions the armed forces, which have always practiced in the shooting ranges, and then mountaineering and parachuting, which have nothing to do with carbines and pistols. What has to do with it, evidently, is instead Fazzolari’s well-known and ancient passion for weapons».

The reactions

However, what is attributed to Fazzolari has caused a political storm to break out, with cracks also in the centre-right. While FdI was compact in defending the undersecretary, evoking fake news, the Northern League leader and deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini preferred to point out: «It doesn’t seem like an enlightened idea to me. With all the love and support for sport shooting, at ranges and for those with a passion, I would forget about shooting education, I would bring road safety education into schools». As for the center-left, sarcasm was chosen first, with the PD Giuseppe Provenzano, deputy group leader in the Chamber: «When are the Saturday rallies? Have you mistaken the country’s government for an assembly of the National Action University Front? You want to transform Italy into a Trumpian nightmare of inequalities”. To switch to the worried tones of Nicola Fratoianni, secretary of the Italian Left: «Singular and hallucinating idea». And to those indignant of Angelo Bonelli co-spokesman of Green Europe: “It is unacceptable to propose to teach its use to young people: at school you study and do not shoot.” From the third pole, however, Matteo Renzi sticks: «The government has canceled the 18 app but wants to teach shooting at school. Fewer books, more guns?”