April in Italy
By
Gary W. Burris

I don’t know if readers of my newsletter like reading about my adventures or not, but I like writing about them. So please indulge me while I reminisce about my latest trip to Italy.

I departed the US on the 9th of April and arrived in Milan, Italy the morning of 10 April. I took a bus from the airport the central train station in downtown Milan and purchased a ticket to Brescia, Italy. From the train station in Brescia I took a taxi to my hotel.

The reason for this trip to Italy was to work at the EXA gun show. I was there to help with International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) membership, Zanotti shotgun sales and Federazione Italiana Storia Armi Tiro (FISAT) membership. EXA is the biggest gun show in Italy and the second largest in Europe. During the four day show there were approximately 70,000 visitors.

I attended several meetings with range owners in Italy and gave a class on gun safety for 3-gun matches. I was interviewed by three Italian gun magazines, one was video taped, and one German gun magazine. My friends in Italy have built my reputation up to the point where many Italians recognized me on the street. So I began to feel like a celebrity but nobody asked for my autograph.

One evening we went a restaurant where there was a scheduled meeting of magistrates gathering to talk about gun laws and other things. Magistrates are similar to judges in our legal system. We attended the reception where I met some of the most influential magistrates and had a glass of wine while we talked. To my surprise they invited us to join them for dinner and had another table prepared for our party of four. They were all dressed with coats and ties and I felt a little out of place but their hospitality made me feel welcome.

After the show we traveled by car to Bologna, Italy. The balance of my time in Italy was spent doing fun things like visiting museums and enjoying the wonderful Italian food. I did a day trip by train to Florence to visit an arms museum. On another trip I went by car to visit the Ferrari museum. I’m thinking of trading my Hummer for one of those sporty looking red cars.

There was another small trip to the beautiful countryside to inspect some property for the possibility of opening a shooting range. The area reminded me of the rolling tree covered blue mountains of Kentucky.

Perhaps the best time in Bologna was one evening I spent visiting with my friends at the Zanotti gun shop. A lot of old customers came into the shop and sat around telling wild tales while having a great time. It kind of reminded me of the way old timers gather at the local café in small town America and reminisce about the old days. They all embraced me as one of group. And I suppose that I have reached that age where I blend in with the old timers.

My host and companion for most of my adventures was Simon who is a Carabinieri, (Italian for Carbiniers). Carabinieri are the national-level gendarmerie of Italy who also perform military police duties. They police both the military and civilian populations.

My visit to this wonderful country drew to a close. I boarded a train and went to Bergamo to spend the evening with my old friend Giorgio. Giorgio put me up for the night in his home. The next morning he took me to the train station for a trip back to Milan. From the central station I took a bus back to the airport where I said, “Ciao” to Italy and boarded an airplane for the trip back to Houston.

FISAT
By
Gary W. Burris

Italy has formed the Federazione Italiana Storia Armi Tiro (FISAT) and it is similar in function to our National Rifle Association (NRA). The federation is gaining in popularity throughout Italy with new members joining every day. I had the privilege of becoming a member during the EXA gun show in Brescia, Italy in April of this year.

Most gun enthusiasts in Italy belong to a federation organized for their particular interest. For instance there are federations for gun collectors, black powder, cowboy action, hunting, bench rest and Olympic shooting just to name a few. These federations are small and offer nothing in the way of political or legal support.

These smaller federations voiced concern that FISAT would try to control them or take away some of their powers. I explained in interviews with three different Italian gun magazines and one German gun magazine that FISAT had no intention of controlling their organizations. But rather that FISAT would add greatly to their individual powers.

There needs to be a cultural change of mindset for Italians. The thought of working together for a common goal seems foreign to most Italians. Small federations have been concerned only with issues that disturbed them and could care less that some other type of gun federation was being adversely affected by some change to the way a gun law was applied. I’ve seen a subtle change of attitude when people realize that through FISAT they can work together to help another federation and when the roles are reversed, FISAT will come to their aid.

What FISAT offers for these diverse gun enthusiasts is a single organization that will work on their behalf to improve gun laws in Italy. FISAT will do this by using the political influence of the organization during elections and by representing the interests of gun enthusiasts in courts of law.

Unlike the United States, Italy has no 2nd Amendment to a constitution providing for the rights of citizens to bear arms. Gun laws in Italy are many and confusing. Most law enforcement agencies in Italy do not understand the laws or they interpret them incorrectly. One of the main focuses for FISAT will be to clarify gun laws and will do this by representing gun owners who have not had the ability to challenge some of these outdated and conflicting laws in the courts.

I was excited to see that there is a lot of interest in the rest of Europe about what FISAT is doing in Italy. In fact, Greece has already formed a federation patterned after FISAT.

Shooting Ranges
By
Gary W. Burris

Over the years that I’ve been involved with shooting sports I’ve noticed a strange phenomenon. And that is that shooting ranges and their attitudes toward customers change fairly dramatically.

Several times I have been either directly or indirectly involved with helping a shooting range by starting a club or participating in club shooting at their facility. At first the ranges appreciate the fact that the club is bringing new business and dollars in for them. More than once I’ve pulled my club out of a range or just quit going to a range because of the treatment club members have received.

Far be it for me to tell someone how to run a business, but it seems to me that you would want to cater to you best customer base (those who come and use your facility on a regular basis). These customers pay your range fees, buy guns, ammunition and various other gun related items. If the range runs these folks off then that revenue goes with them.

I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me. I’m getting old and set in my ways.

History of FISAT

This page was added to describe what Federazione Italiana Storia Armi Tiro (FISAT) is doing and will do in the future because we are beginning collaboration with N.R.A. and other foreign pro-gun associations.

FISAT was born on 14 December 2007 after the adoption of strict anti-gun measures by the Italian government following a shooting incident in Guidonia (Rome) caused by a retired Army NCO who - by fault of the local police authorities – did not have his gun permits cancelled after he was certified insane.
The adoption of these anti-gun measures was revoked only after the Government lost the majority in Parliament.

Immediately following this incident, Major General (ret.) Guido Pesce, formerly commander of the National Arms Maintenance Center in Terni, launched a public "call to arms" for the protection of the citizen’s rights to legal and responsible gun ownership and use.

His call was accepted by the following founding members:
Ms. Silvia Gentile - Attorney at Law - vice President and representative of I.D.P.A. Italy
Mr. Aldo Chiapparino - Engineering PhD - as a representative of bench rest Italian shooting associations
Major General (Army ret.) Aldebrano Micheli - former curator of the collection of the National Army Small Arms Center
Lt. Col. (Army) Benigno Riso - National Small Arms Army Center
Mr. Guido Nicoli, Engineering PhD - National Small Arms Army Center
Mr. Augusto Gasbarri - President and representative of the Viterbo National Shooting Range
Mr. Andrea Simoni and Mr. Gianfranco Manfredini - representatives of Zanotti Armory of Bologna.
Detective Sergeant Simone Ciucchi - representative of IDPA Italy

The assembly decided to found an association for the improvement of the image of citizens’ gun ownership and the protection of the citizens’ rights to legal and responsible gun ownership.

What are we doing now-

In European and Italian history there is no tradition of associations lobbying for the common interests of members, especially in guns matters. Only in the recent years Consumers associations, mainly copied from their US counterparts, have begun to work with politicians and on class actions for the protection of diffused interests in courts.

The importance of international collaboration should not be understated because as Italy is part of the European Union (EU), adoption of liberal legislation in guns matters by the EU would be immediately adopted by Italian government authorities. And it would have a negative influence in non EU countries like Switzerland and the U.S.
This is due to the modern "global village" syndrome: "If it works in the US it will work here". An example: when the Clinton administration adopted the "assault weapons ban" concept, all EU countries and Switzerland began to push for similar measures. And now that the "assault weapons" syndrome is history in the US, it's still being pushed as a viable option by Italian and European anti-gun government officials. This is the reason that we are seeking collaboration and help from N.R.A. (National Rifle Association) and other European similar associations.