A lawmaker from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s party was at the center of a political storm Tuesday after someone was shot after bringing a gun to a New Year’s Eve party.
Emanuele Pozzolo, a lawmaker from Meloni’s far-right Italian Brotherhood party, admitted to owning the mini-revolver (reportedly a .22 caliber North American Arms revolver) but denied firing it. He said no.
He said it was accidentally ejected and caused a minor injury to the guest’s leg. The guest, the son-in-law of Junior Justice Minister Andrea Delmastro’s bodyguard, was also present.
“I admit that I accidentally fired from a legally owned pistol, but I was not the one who fired the shot,” Pozzolo, 38, said in a statement quoted by La Repubblica newspaper. Ta.
According to reports, the incident, which took place at a party attended by about 30 guests in Rosazza, near Turin, is under investigation.
However, the story caused surprise and anger among opposition politicians.
Firearm ownership is strictly regulated in Italy, but Meloni’s party last month proposed lowering the minimum age for obtaining a hunting rifle permit to 16.
“I could never have imagined that Giorgia Meloni’s party’s passion for weapons was such that members of Congress would bring loaded weapons to a New Year’s Eve party,” said Ellie Schlein, leader of the center-left Democratic Party.
Added former centrist Prime Minister Matteo Renzi: “Why bring a gun to a New Year’s Eve party attended by MPs and government officials?”
“The Meloni (Party) is not the ruling class. They are inadequate, incompetent, unpresentable. And above all dangerous to themselves.”
Neither Meloni nor her party have yet publicly responded.
AFP