Amendment to the regulation
Below are the reflections of Luigi Le Noci, President of Arci Caccia Manfredonia. The issue of transporting weapons within the perimeter of the Gargano National Park It returns to the center of the debate, raising questions not only about hunting management, but especially about road safety and administrative transparency. At the heart of the controversy is the request to amend the traffic regulations on the SP Fermata Frattarolo-Fraz. Candelaro highway, a key artery for the area's road network.
The security paradox
According to Luigi Le Noci, President of Arci Caccia Manfredonia, the current ban on transporting firearms (even unloaded and in a case) on this specific route forces hunters to use alternative routes such as the SP 141 or the SS 89. These latter roads, however, are notorious for their heavy traffic and high accident rate. In addition to the dangers of vehicular traffic and thick fog, there is also the wild boar emergency: traveling along these roads has become a sort of "Russian roulette" for anyone unexpectedly encountering these animals. "We urge the Park Authority to redistribute the vehicle load, emphasizing that the decision to close a safer road represents an avoidable risk to public safety, especially given the numerous accidents that have already occurred on the alternative routes recommended by the Authority."
Bureaucracy and unequal treatment
The criticism then shifts to document management and the unequal treatment compared to other areas of the Gargano. While in other areas of the Park, access is permitted with a regular permit using revenue stamps, the denial on this specific stretch appears to lack any coherent logic. Furthermore, the request for a "declaration of non-existence of an alternative route" is challenged as a procedural defect: according to Presidential Decree 445/2000, such certification cannot include subjective assessments that are outside the citizen's jurisdiction, thus proving legitimate but ultimately ineffective. On the transparency front, Le Noci also points out that, where the ban was motivated by the risk of poaching, there is a clear administrative precedent: following a phone call with the Park offices around 2020 to inquire about the status of the application, the request for a verification of the documents at the CTA was confirmed. If such evidence is not available or there are doubts, the Association invites the Authority to request further checks to determine whether there are any reports of alleged poachers on that specific road.
Towards a common sense solution
The Arci Caccia association is not asking for exemptions from current laws, but rather for the implementation of solutions already successfully adopted in other regions or other sectors of the same park through annual or, better yet, seasonal hunting permits. The proposal is management based on transparent permits that guarantee the right to safe transit on the least dangerous route. The court is now in Commissioner Raffaele Di Mauro's court. The community awaits the outcome of the matter, waiting to see whether dialogue and objective data verification will prevail, or whether a ban that jeopardizes citizens' safety without any real environmental justification will continue.
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