Italian newspaper La Stampa had a spat with PM Giorgia Meloni’s undersecretary Giovanbattista Fazzolari over a possible proposal to teach target shooting in schools. Fazzolari contested the reconstruction made by the newspaper, accusing it of twisting his words with general Franco Federici.
La Stampa reported that after a meeting between Meloni and Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed, Fazzolari and Federici spoke. During their talk, Fazzolari pitched to Federici the idea of setting up a round table to shape a proposal for teaching target shooting in schools. He allegedly said that “There is a net of organisations that can be involved and that can talk with the education world.” His idea is to take students to shooting practice. Federici, who is a military counsellor for the prime ministry, was receptive but not completely onboard.
The undersecretary rejected the newspaper’s article on the issue. He confirmed the chat with the general but claimed that the two were only speaking about allocating more resources for training armed forces and the police, plus a possible proposal for a privileged recruit channel for athletes training in sports considered relevant for the armed forces, like alpine trekking, shooting, and skydiving.
La Stampa stick with its article, with director Massimo Giannini locking the source used by journalist Ilario Lombardo and pointing that Fazzolari’s proposal is already in existence and that the undersecretary is a notorious gun advocate. Fazzolari has often remarked about his passion for guns and pushed in the previous legislation for abolishing a ban on selling short weapons.
