"Regarding the photographs released today by some media in which I am portrayed with an automatic weapon in the Beretta pavilion, I would like to clarify that I was at the International Defense Exhibition (Idex) - underway in Abu Dhabi - in my institutional capacity and I visited all the Italian exhibition stands. In the Beretta stand I was also invited to personally see the lightness and ergonomics of some portable weapons - as can be seen from the photos in question - without any posture or attitude of any propaganda value. portray me were made and distributed by persons unknown to me and, I stress, have not been disseminated by myself".
This was stated
by Undersecretary of Defense Isabella Rauti, Senator of the Brothers of Italy
.
"Here we go again, after the regional councilor of Fdi of Veneto Joe Formaggio, also the undersecretary of Defense Isabella Rauti, of the same party, has herself portrayed while holding a rifle. In the parts of Fratelli d'Italia they have a fatal attraction for weapons from fire".
This was stated
by Senator Aurora Floridia of the Green and Left Alliance.
"The photo of Undersecretary of Defense Rauti on an official visit to the International Defense Exhibition & Conference 2023 in Abu Dhabi, - he explains - relaunched on social media by his party colleague Joe Formaggio, a great supporter and admirer of every type of weapon, and not new to certain initiatives, it is very serious and inappropriate. I presented a question to the Minister of Defense Crosetto to find out if he does not consider it at least inappropriate for a member of the government to have himself immortalized while holding a weapon. After the image of the regional councilor of Fratelli of Italy while handling a machine gun and the proposal to take school students to shooting ranges, doubts arise about the relationship between the Brothers of Italy and the gun lobby. That the right loves guns is nothing new,but that the representatives of the institutions become promoters is really too much".