An unlikely reform
An unlikely reform of the national hunting law, 157/92 hit the headlines in the very last days of 2023, conquering the pages of the main national newspapers. A senator of the Brothers of Italy, Bartolomeo Amidei elected in Veneto, presented the already known proposal to modify law 157 created by another exponent of the Brothers of Italy, the MEP Sergio Berlato. In truth, the proposal was presented in June towards the end of the month but went unnoticed by most. In December, however, it was officially scheduled and therefore everyone fully learned of its existence. In a country, Italy, which is unable to fully apply the existing law from the Serenissima region, proposals are arriving that are perplexing to say the least.
The license already at 16 years old
Senator Amidei, evidently and certainly instigated by Berlato, proposes to grant the license to carry weapons at the age of 16, to abolish the days of hunting silence on Tuesdays and Fridays, to give the right to the Regions, which have never done so despite being a their faculty present in 157/92 for 30 years, to equip themselves with regional institutes for wildlife, coordinated in their activity by the Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA). Many of the proposed changes are acceptable, such as that of abolishing the exclusive form of hunting. How can we comment on the idea of opening hunting by species, with the possibility from the third ten days of August to the third ten days of February. Today, in 2024 ISPRA is questioning the opening on the third Sunday of September and the closing on January 31st; the two parliamentarians convince their party and the competent ministers to meet ISPRA to clarify this fundamental issue. The proposed amendment then asks that in October and December hunters be able to take advantage not only of the three canonical hunting days but of two additional hunting days only for migratory hunting, but the proposal refers to all hunters, not just hut keepers. Gentlemen, it's been a few years since Ispra has granted the 5th supplementary day to Brescia for shed workers and you want to give it to everyone? Let's apply the existing law, when it is fully applied then we will all evaluate together and not just from Veneto how to change it. We are on the eve of the electoral campaign for the European elections, the Hon. Berlato is an outgoing parliamentarian and is apparently thinking about his re-election.
Lots of exploitation
However, it would be appropriate for him to seek the votes by explaining what he managed to do in the European Parliament, and not how 157 should be modified by speaking only to the belly of the hunters, asking that we can go to the migratory in all the ATCs of the Region and 30 days in all Italy. They are intriguing ideas, proposals that find consensus, who would say no? Perhaps many of us know our world, but beyond this, today hunting cannot ignore management, the work of the ATC and the Districts cannot always be trivialized. In Europe, however, there is the lead issue to be resolved, the wolf issue, the Key Concepts issue, there are many things to do. But there was so much media outcry raised, and obviously so much exploitation, especially on the proposal to give 16-year-olds a gun, that Minister Lollobrigida intervened and authoritatively asked Senator Amidei to withdraw the bill.
Buconi's words
What a fool, but really, what a fool! This is what you risk when you don't want to share and agree on anything, snubbing hunting associations, farmers and all stakeholders. It seems to us that there is a bit of confusion among the majority on the hunting issue and that a bit of order should instead be found by promoting some meetings and round tables to try to resolve today's real hunting problems. Below are the words of our national president Massimo Buconi upon hearing the news of Minister Lollobrigida's request to withdraw the PDL. “It is not by fueling controversy and providing arguments to opponents of hunting that the good of hunting and hunters is done. Minister Lollobrigida, whom I thank, did well to clarify the position of the Government on a delicate topic such as that of the reform of 157/92, which in recent hours - perhaps speciously, but certainly in an effective way to affect our entire category and our activity - had been placed at the center of the news". “For years, Federcaccia alone and with other hunting associations has been constantly working towards a dutiful and necessary update of the current legislation – continued Buconi – and creating controversy with the sole result of uniting all the acronyms and political forces that oppose us it is only useful not to those who seek concrete results for hunting, but pursue other purposes, certainly legitimate, but certainly not for the benefit of the hunting world" (source: FIDC Brescia).
Federcaccia's problem seems more than anything else to be that of not having been consulted before the drafting of the bill by Sen. Amidei. As for the license at sixteen, it would be a matter of going back to the old ways (I also got it at 16, with my father's consent: it was the year 1965, and I have never shot anyone). The irritable tone of the article is surprising, evidently for the FIDC political and associational jealousies matter more than the interests of hunters.