By: Dr Matevž Tomšič
The controversies surrounding weapons, their possession, and handling seem to have no end. After one MP from the largest opposition party stirred part of the public by urging people to join shooting clubs (thus enabling them to legally obtain firearms), there is now, for some, another questionable event: a weekend of military skills organised at the end of August by Catholic Youth. Catholics and weapons, those surely do not go together! For some, this amounts to militarisation, aligned with the “far-right’s” push for armament, even incitement to violence. Before long, someone might even label it a threat to public safety.
And what is surprising is that the Catholic military weekend was not attacked only by leftists (the loudest critic being a man who otherwise considers himself Catholic), but also by people from their own ranks, those who not only follow the teachings of the Catholic Church but also identify as part of the right wing of Slovenian politics. Some of them launched a real campaign on social media, claiming that private armament and training in the handling of weapons is nothing less than a threat to democracy. The least we can say is that this is a gross exaggeration. At the “incriminated” event, participants will only become familiar with weapon replicas (the kind you can buy in stores). Real weapons, after all, cannot be handled by just anyone. Therefore, the risk that someone could get hurt or that the weapons could be used against someone is exactly zero.
And there is nothing wrong with people learning how to ensure their own safety. Alongside various martial arts, this also includes the ability to handle different types of weapons. It would even be desirable for such training to become part of mandatory school curricula. This could serve as an alternative to the reintroduction of compulsory military service (as, for instance, neighbouring Croatia has decided to do). To claim that knowing how to use weapons encourages violence is nonsense. That is like saying that someone who has trained in judo or karate has automatically become violent. Whether a person is violent or not has nothing to do with skills. There will always be people who want to harm others, sometimes because of personal character, sometimes due to ideological indoctrination. That is why it is good if decent people know how to defend themselves, even with weapons, if necessary.
Members of the Catholic community have, yet again, fallen into the trap set by leftists, who managed to push them into justifying their actions. Even the event organisers began explaining: “This is not training,” “This is not about arming ourselves,” “This is not militarisation,” and so on. They tried to persuade the public that what they are doing is not wrong. It came across almost as if they were apologising. That is completely unnecessary. The opposing side never does this. We can be sure that if the Association of Fighters for the Values of the National Liberation Struggle (Zveza borcev za vrednote NOB) organised a similar military camp where participants trained in handling weapons, its people would feel no need whatsoever to explain their actions – let alone apologise for them. For them, what they do would seem completely self-evident. After all, they constantly display weapons publicly at various events.
There is absolutely no reason for any sort of “account-giving.” Especially not to hypocrites who present themselves as pacifists opposing the armament of Slovenia and Europe, insisting that nonviolence is the only true path; while at the same time glorifying the communist revolution, which was a manifestation of violence par excellence, leading to revolutionary terror and countless victims during and after World War II. And every time the subject of communist violence comes up, we hear statements along the lines of: “We did not kill enough of them in 1945.” So, it is simply not true that people who oppose the supporters of the former regime have no reason to learn how to defend themselves.