22 January 2025| Matteo Millan – A country of striking contradictions.

The paper examines the implementation of gun control measures and their social and political impact in Italy between the 1860s and the early 1920s. The paper moves away from the study of illegal actors and perpetrators of armed violence (such as criminals or paramilitaries) and focuses instead on ordinary law-abiding citizens. Law-abiding civilians are the basis of the state’s legitimacy and the main recipients of its social policies and civil and political rights. This provides a vantage point from which to examine the impact of arms on societies, the complex interplay between order and freedom, and the cultural images associated with firearms. In this respect, Italy is a rather unique case study because of the profound contradictions that it embodied. On the one hand, Italy was one of the first and few countries in Belle Époque Europe to introduce gun licences, thus largely anticipating a common trend that would develop in Europe only after 1918. On the other hand, the introduction of prior checks on the possession and use of firearms was accompanied by wide discretionary powers on the part of the authorities, while the level of interpersonal violence remained significantly high. In other words, gun control did not go hand in hand with a more peaceful and pacified society, but largely contributed to the consolidation of quite authoritarian state institutions. As elsewhere in Europe, the outbreak of the First World War marked a major turning point. Total mobilisation led to the implementation of emergency measures to disarm the civilian population for the sake of national security. After 1918, Italy (as well as other European countries) experienced the paradox of being both a country with extensive arms control measures and one that experienced unprecedented levels of political violence.

[Photo source: Ask för 25 kulpatroner (nr 4781) kal. 6,35, till pistol nr 4777 “ACP Pistolet Browning Cal. 6.35Triple surete”, m: 1906, Vestpocket Browning, Fabrique National, Herstal. di Fabrique National d’armes de guerre (Tillverkare, , ) – The Royal Armoury, Sweden – CC0]