The Carabinieri of the Company of Sovereignthrough the dependent stations, have carried out an extraordinary service of control of firearms holders, ascertaining various violations.
Article 38 of the Consolidated Law on Public Security Laws, in fact, provides that the Public Security Authority can carry out control checks in order to ensure that the holder of the weapons keeps them in a suitable place that offers guarantees of safety. The sanctions that a citizen who does not comply with the regulations on weapons may incur are various and important:
– for the illegal carrying of one’s own weapons one risks arrest from 3 months to 3 years depending on the various hypotheses, while arrest is from six months to two years and a fine from 1,000 to 10,000 euros for the illegal carrying of improper weapons or instruments that have the capacity and can cause an offense, but which are not intended for this purpose, for example clubs, pipes, chains, metal balls, hammers, etc…;
– for failure to report or fail to keep weapons and ammunition you risk arrest for up to 1 year and a fine of up to 1,032 euros, or imprisonment for 1 to 3 years;
– for hunting during periods when hunting is closed, the aforementioned and other legal provisions and regulations, including regional ones, regarding weapons and hunting, apply, depending on the case.
In any case, in the presence of violations regarding weapons by the legitimate holders, the request for a “ban on possession of weapons” is forwarded to the Prefect.
Furthermore, the legislation provides that, even for the simple possession of weapons, every five years a medical certification from the ASL must be acquired which certifies that the applicant is not affected by pathologies that reduce, even temporarily, the capacity to understand and want or does not appear to take, even occasionally, narcotic and psychotropic substances or abuse alcohol. Holders who also hold a valid weapons license (hunting, sporting, personal defense) are exempt from the obligation to present. In the case of a license no longer renewed, the five years start from the expiry of the last renewal.
In this context, the Carabinieri Stations are at the forefront in ensuring that the weapons in circulation are correctly registered and in the possession of people who have the necessary qualifications, in order to avoid abuse. Overall, over 60 checks were carried out on gun owners in the municipalities of Soverato, Badolato, Chiaravalle Centrale and Guardavalle. In two separate checks, the police found a total of 2 hunting rifles and related ammunition. In this case, following the death of their respective relatives in recent years, the heirs continued to maintain possession of the weapons without the required police title.
In another inspection, a 72-year-old was found in possession of a shotgun, which was not stolen but was never reported to the Public Security Authority., despite being the holder in possession of a police title. As part of the same check, it was ascertained that the man had failed to take the necessary precautions in the custody of two hunting rifles, complete with ammunition and duly reported, found behind furniture in the living room. Even during another check, an over eighty-year-old failed to take the necessary precautions when storing a gun, duly reported, incurring the expected sanctions. Due to this lack, the remaining weapons and ammunition were also seized, as a precaution, on an administrative basis. Finally, it was ascertained that a craftsman transported a 7.65 cal semi-automatic pistol from the municipality of previous residence to the current one, in the Soverato area, without prior notification to the Public Security Authority, required pursuant to art. 34 TULPS , then failing to file a complaint.