Senator Anna Cinzia Bonfrisco is a well-known figure in the shooting world and in the arms sector for the civilian market, because she has always been one of the closest political figures to this world.
Senator, today she is an authoritative exponent of the Northern League, a party that has become the bearer of a revolutionary law on self-defense, promised by Matteo Salvini since the election campaign. Do you think an important milestone has been reached with this law?
The new law on self-defense is simply a measure of common sense: defense must always be legitimate, aggression is not legitimate. This is the mental and psychological revolution that is needed in Italy. What the Lega wanted to do was to give people more tools to defend themselves, in their home or in their business.
It is no longer conceivable that in Italy the victim is prosecuted by the judiciary and never the culprit, whoever is attacked and not the one who commits it. So this is a first step in the right direction. The Italian legislation thanks to the League becomes a little more balanced.
It is not the first time that you are leading battles for the right to defense. A decade ago it was the rapporteur of a bill that legalized pepper spray in Italy, something that at the time was considered controversial, but today if you think about it, it is one of the few legal tools available to those who want to defend themselves from aggression even outside the home.
The spray is just a small tool that women can now buy especially to feel a little stronger. I see many news stories of these times that worry me, as an exponent of the institutions but also as a woman, and so I hope I have helped in my own small way to make women feel safer, at least allowing them to defend themselves in dangerous situations.
Today I am happy to be part of a party, the League, which has made the safety of citizens a priority. As everyone knows Matteo Salvini is very close to our law enforcement agencies, and not just because the latter, in particular the police and the carabinieri, must protect us in everyday life, but also because they themselves must be protected from attacks, often unjust, coming from the political or media world. We are in an upside-down world that we must try to fix.
Do you think the League is getting so many acclaim just because it has intercepted this need for Italian security?
Certainly yes, but for our part we must not simply promise more security, as if it were a slogan, but bring real results to the Italians. A first step was to stop irregular immigration, a phenomenon that is the cause of much of the insecurity perceived by Italians.
Another thing to do is to provide modern tools and increase the professional skills of those who protect order and security, and I do not think exclusively of police forces. In fact, I always say that there is not only one "security" but different "securities", each with its own needs and specifications; think of the world of security guards and private security guards. This too is a sector that is often ignored by politics, with the risk that one day someone will come from abroad and supplant our businesses and our workers: to avoid it we need investments, more training and new technologies and a regulatory framework in step with the times.
She is a candidate for the European elections of 26 May. They are important elections for Italy from the political point of view, but also for the rest of the European Union, given that the Strasbourg Parliament derives much of the national legislation in various sectors.
There are two main problems in Europe: the first is the excess of bureaucracy and the second is a wrong attitude of some member countries, which are more attentive to budget constraints than to the effectiveness of the answers that should be offered to citizens. The Lega wants a more streamlined European Union, which does not further weigh down our businesses with its bureaucracy, but rather knows how to learn from the States that are part of it, when there are virtuous examples.
I am thinking, for example, of our arms sector for the civil and defense sectors: we are talking about an entire production chain that constitutes an excellence of our country that is not always recognized. Italy has succeeded in creating a thriving industry, knowing how to balance it with adequate legislation; in this sector it is Europe that must learn from Italy, not the other way around. The same is true in many other fields.
What the League will do in Europe will protect Italian interests, especially when they coincide with the growth of the economy, and therefore with the general European interest.
Senator, you were one of the few to remember and commemorate the anniversary of the birth of our Armed Forces, last May 4. Given that this magazine mainly deals with Defense, do you want to leave a thought for our military?
Remembering our Armed Forces is almost natural to me, since I grew up in a barracks. Imagine! My memory on that occasion went mainly to the infantrymen and the Alpini who definitively completed the unification process of Italy, serving the colors of our young flag.
Today I believe that concrete messages are needed to make the men and women wearing the uniform understand how much our institutions appreciate them.
I am a little disconcerted when I read certain news from the military world, such as that of the dedication of the parade on the Imperial Forums of 2 Jun "to inclusion". I sincerely hope that this holiday can be an opportunity to honor and remember those who serve and sacrifice themselves for our country far from home, in threatened bases in war zones or sailing around the world aboard our ships.
