Image copyright AFP Image caption Czechs should be able to bear arms to fend off terror attacks, parliament's lower house agrees

The lower house of the Czech parliament has agreed to alter the constitution so that firearms can be held legally when national security is threatened.

The amendment gives Czechs the right to use firearms during terrorist attacks.

It was passed by the lower house by a big majority, and is likewise expected to be approved by the upper house.

The move by parliament is a challenge to EU gun control rules which restrict civilians from possessing certain kinds of semi-automatic weapons.

The EU argues its move is a much-needed counter-terrorism measure.

But the Czech parliament took a different view, arguing that allowing people to bear arms enables them to defend themselves against terrorism.

"We don't want to disarm our citizens at a time when the security situation in Europe is getting worse," Interior Minister Milan Chovanec told parliament on Wednesday.

"Show me a single terrorist attack in Europe perpetrated using a legally-owned weapon."

The Czech Republic has no recent history of terror attacks, although other countries in the European Union have.

The European Commission agreed tougher gun control rules in December - they were approved by EU interior ministers four months later in spite of objections from the Czech Republic, Luxembourg and Poland.

In 2017, there were more than 800,000 firearms - many of them antiques in museums - registered in the Czech Republic, a country with a population of 10.6 million.

Many Czechs in rural areas also carry firearms for use when hunting.</s>Czech lawmakers have passed legislation in the lower parliament that would see the right to bear firearms enshrined in the country’s constitution in a move directed against tighter regulations from the European Union.

The legislation was passed with 139 deputies agreeing to the amendment to the constitution with only nine deputies voting against. The amendment will now be considered by the Czech Senate where it will require a supermajority of three-fifths of the members in order to pass into law, Die Presse reports.

Similar to the U.S. second amendment to the Constitution, which gives Americans the right to keep and bear arms, the Czech legislation reads: “Citizens of the Czech Republic have the right to acquire, retain and bear arms and ammunition.”

The amendment also notes that the right is there to ensure the safety of the country, similar to the provision of a “well-regulated militia” in the American amendment.

Whilst the new law will enshrine the right for Czech citizens to purchase and own firearms, members of the public will still need to acquire a weapons certificate.

Interior Minister Milan Chovanec said the new legislation was directly aimed at an EU directive from March which sought to prohibit semi-automatic firearms and magazines that hold more than 10 rounds for pistols and 20 rounds for long guns.

“We do not want to disarm our own people at a time when the security situation is constantly worsening,” Chovanec said.

The Czech Republic has one of the largest rates of firearm ownership in the EU with an estimated 300,000 gun owners who own around 800,000 individual firearms.

Laws around gun ownership in the Central European country are also far less restrictive than other EU countries with 240,000 of the 300,000 gun owners having concealed carry permits and self-defence being a recognised reason for firearms ownership.

The Czech defiance of EU policy has in recent months been largely confined to the issue of the redistribution of migrants.

Czech leaders, along with those from the other Visegrád group states of Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, have all rejected EU plans to redistribute migrants from Italy and Greece raising concerns over security.

Andrej Babis, expected to become the next Czech prime minister, completely rejected mass migration this week commenting: “We have to fight for what our ancestors built here. If there will be more Muslims than Belgians in Brussels, that’s their problem. I don’t want that here. They won’t be telling us who should live here.”

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson@breitbart.com</s>On Wednesday, 139 of the 168-member Chamber of Deputies voted for the amendment, which was proposed by Interior Minister Milan Chovanec of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), in response to an EU directive on firearms that was adopted earlier this year.

"We do not want to disarm our own people at a time when the security situation is deteriorating," Chovanec said during the parliamentary debate on Wednesday.

"Show me a single terrorist attack in Europe perpetrated using a legally-owned weapon," he said.

'Interior Minister Milan Chovanec for the defense of his home and country.'

​The new law states that Czech citizens have the right to acquire, keep and bear arms in order to ensure the security of the state.

It means that the approximately 360,000 licensed gun-owners in the Czech Republic are allowed to carry their weapons in public and use them in case of a public order emergency, such as terrorism.

The EU directive, which was drawn up by the Commission in the aftermath of terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels, was adopted by the EU Council in April. It includes a ban on civilian use of short semi-automatic firearms with loading devices over 20 rounds and long semi-automatic firearms with loading devices over 10 rounds, as well as long firearms that can be easily concealed, for example by means of a folding or telescopic stock.

As well as the constitutional amendment, which still has to be approved by the Senate and the President, the Czech government has also said it will file a complaint with the European Court of Justice about the directive by August 17.

Although Western European countries such as France, Belgium, Germany and the UK have suffered several terrorist attacks in recent years, the Czech Republic has not seen any attacks. The Global Peace Index 2016 ranked the country the sixth safest in the world.</s>Gun control advocates in the US often paint Europe as a kind of gun free paradise, where only terrorists carry weapons.

The truth is rather different. Czech Republic for example provides responsible adults with permits that allow one to carry two concealed handguns. The rates of concealed carry permits in the Czech Republic are higher per capita than that of the US, although overall per capita firearm ownership is higher in the US.

Now though, the right to bear arms in Czech Republic is set to expand as Parliament approved a bill to amend the Czech Constitution which if signed into law, will allow ordinary citizens to take up arms against terrorists.

Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec described the aims of new would-be law in the following way,

“We do not want to disarm our own people at a time when the security situation is deteriorating. Show me a single terrorist attack in Europe perpetrated using a legally-owned weapon”.

The bill will allow all licenced Czech gun owners to openly carry weapons which they would be free to use to defend themselves and their countrymen in the event of a terrorist attack.

The proposals are reminiscent of those Donald Trump made when he remarked that the Paris ISIS attacks of 2015 could have been minimised if ordinary people had the right to bear arms as they do in the United States.

The Czech Republic has traditionally been one of the world’s leading firearms manufacturers.</s>I was watching the discussions in the lower chamber of the Czech Parliament which were dedicated to the proposal by the interior minister Mr Milan Chovanec (social democracy) and a group of fellow deputies to adopt a constitutional amendment that allows the citizens to use their guns in the case of a terrorist attack. The amendment somewhat unusually says that the Czech folks have the right to bear arms (like in the U.S. but) "in order to protect their country".

 

 

 

 Interior minister Chovanec and his Winchester 1892.

 

 Spoilers.

 

 After a nearly three-hour-long discussion, 139 voted for, 9 voted against, some abstained, and 32 weren't present, but the support exceeded the 60% = 120 majority needed for the constitutional law to pass.

 

 

 

 

 Some opponents of migration and fans of tolerant gun control laws may sometimes imagine that the Czechs are a brave friendly gang that fights against the insanities that are being imposed upon the Europeans by the European Commission and other limbs of the EU. Well, it's largely true except that you should never forget that the Czechs are a highly contentious group that is rarely united (ice-hockey matches are the only events where they exhibit some sort of patriotism) and where internal disputes are common.

 

 

 

 

 So even though almost everyone agrees about the "big picture" claims – that the proposed EU regulation to harass the owners of legally held weapons in order to fight terrorism is an utter absurdity – there were lots of disagreements about "what it actually means for us", "whether it makes sense to fight it", "whether the EU will beat us anyway", "whether some politicians have failed in efforts to better negotiate and kill the EU proposal", "whether some Czech political parties have allies in the EU Parliament that have made things worse for us", "whether some politicians are hypocritical when they allowed the EU regulation and they say that the Czech system of gun licenses is optimal" and so on.

 

 There was also an extensive discussion about the half-jokingly meant proposal that every candidate for the Parliament should undergo psychiatric tests. Someone wanted the minister of interior who takes selfies with a Winchester to be tested as the first one, others proposed the testing for the proponent of the testing in the previous part of the sentence, and so on. You can imagine that at some points, the tensions ran high – and so did the entertainment value for the viewers of the farce. I say it was a farce but I do believe that such interactions in the Parliament are the best known algorithm to systematically pick the better policies.

 

 I find it a common activity to argue but I think that if I were a lawmaker, I would be trying to work on the unity of the Czech nation much more than almost all these representatives do.

 

 

 

 Ms Jana Černochová (a top lawmaker for center-right ODS) defeated minister Mr Milan Chovanec (left-wing ČSSD) in a shooting contest two months ago. An assault rifle event was decisive.

 

 OK, the European big picture is obvious. The European Union has failed to shield itself from lots of migrants. This has caused lots of problems for the welfare systems etc. but it has also led to problems with safety or security and numerous terrorist attacks. Not a single terrorist attack in Europe was made with the help of a legally held weapon. Even if you try to theoretically predict such things, it's a matter of common sense: Terrorists aren't the guys who are obsessed with following every detail of the law, undergoing all the testing and administrative procedures, and showing their faces in luxurious shops with weapons. So the EU authorities' proposal to suppress the European legal owners of the weapons is just rationally unjustifiable. It's worse than that: the new setup with the demilitarized public will obviously make it easier for terrorists to kill many more people in Europe during the future terrorist attacks.

 

 Everyone who isn't a complete idiot understands the previous paragraph and so do most of the Czech citizens and the Czech lawmakers. (Sadly, most politicians in the EU are mental cripples from this perspective.) However, there is a question whether the new stricter European regulations may be prevented with the new constitutional amendment, whether the constitutional amendment is just a populist act, an excuse for the minister of interior to mask that he has failed to block the proposal, and so on.

 

 

 

 Be careful of the First Lady, Ms Zemanová, and her toys, too.

 

 All these ideas were raised and most of them are true to some extent. But even if the new constitutional amendment doesn't fully neutralize the harmful regulations at the EU level, it is a sign of defiance. It is a gesture or partial victory that will encourage Czechs and perhaps others not to be afraid of the EU too much, not to surrender, and so on. Also, the law can make it easier for the ministries of interior and defense (who are collaborating well on these matters) to establish new militias in the future that could be legal but that could also allow the existing private holders of the gun to keep their guns. The rough idea is to divide the Czech legal gun owners to two parts in the future – the existing ones including hunters, collectors, athletes, and personal defense, and those could be restricted by the EU; and those who have guns to help the safety in the republic, and those could avoid the EU regulations.

 

 So I would obviously support the bill as well and I was actually impressed by the minister Chovanec and some other speakers.

 

 To be valid, the Senate – the upper chamber of the Parliament – has to approve the amendment, too. Moreover, all modifications made by the Senate will be immediately valid.</s>Since it shed the yoke of communism in 1989, the Czech Republic has struggled through political and systemic corruption, as well as chaotic privatization, on a long road to relative stability and a place on the world business stage. And lately, things have been looking up and the country has proven itself a fertile ground for entrepreneurs and companies looking to grow.

From his perch in Prague, FORBES Czech Republic editor Michael Marez has been watching the goings on, documenting the continuing development of a business hub with massive potential.</s>PRAGUE: The Czech parliament on Wednesday (Jun 28) passed a constitutional amendment that challenges EU gun control rules by allowing legal firearms holders to use them when national security is threatened, including during terrorist attacks.

The amendment, which passed by a large majority, is expected easily to gain approval from the senate and President Milos Zeman, still needed for it to take effect.

The Czech government also said earlier this month it would ask the European Court of Justice to strike down new EU gun control rules that have its hunters and gun collectors up in arms.

Both moves come as parties jockey for support ahead of the October general election, when the centrist ANO junior coalition partner is tipped to oust the Social Democrats as government leader.

Wednesday's Czech amendment was submitted by government and opposition parties and approved by 139 out of the 168 deputies present in the lower house of parliament. Nine voted against.

"We don't want to disarm our citizens at a time when the security situation in Europe is getting worse," Interior Minister Milan Chovanec, a senior Social Democrat, told parliament Wednesday.

"Show me a single terrorist attack in Europe perpetrated using a legally-owned weapon," he said.

Passed in mid-March by the European Parliament, the new EU gun control directive bans civilians from possessing certain semi-automatic weapons as part of counter-terrorism measures.

EU members are supposed to incorporate the new rules, which passed in June, within 15 months.

The Czech interior ministry said the directive would affect nearly all 300,000 legal firearm licence holders in the country of 10.6 million people.

The Czech Republic, where there is no recent history of terrorism, has been pushing for softer rules on gun control, unlike other countries like Luxembourg and France which asked for strict legislation.

Besides banning short semi-automatic firearms with loading devices over 20 rounds and long semi-automatic firearms with loading devices over 10 rounds, the EU directive prohibits long firearms that can be folded or concealed in other ways.

The EU rules make it easier to trace firearms. They also require registration of converted firearms that only fire blanks, which are used in theatres or on television, under the same category as the original weapons.</s>PRAGUE, Czech Republic — The lower house of the Czech Parliament has approved a constitutional amendment that gives legal gun owners a right to participate in the country’s defence.

An overwhelming 139-9 majority approved the amendment proposed by a group of lawmakers from several parties.

The move is intended to get round a new European Union directive that bans some kinds of semi-automatic weapons that are popular among the 300,000 holders of a gun license in the Czech Republic, a country of 10 million. The EU law might not apply if gun-holders are considered to be state officials.

The Czech government has already said it will file a legal complaint against the directive — approved as a reaction to extremist attacks — claiming it is too restrictive.

Wednesday’s move still needs approval from Parliament’s upper house.</s>The lower house of the Czech parliament voted to put gun owners’ rights in the constitution Wednesday, arguing it protects citizens from Islamist terrorists.

The European Commission passed stricter gun laws in December in response to a growing terror threat. The Czech Republic was one of three countries to oppose the changes, and it is now about to make it legal for citizens to use firearms to protect the security of the country.

“This constitutional bill is in reaction to the recent increase of security threats, especially the danger of violent acts such as isolated terrorist attacks … active attackers or other violent hybrid threats,” a draft of the bill reads.

Critics argue the changes will never take effect as European Union directives overrule the proposed legislation.

“Putting it in the constitution is therefore nonsense,” Jan Farský, the deputy mayor of Chovanec, told Hospodarske Noviny.

The bill passed the lower house by a large majority. It will now go through the upper house before President Milos Zeman can sign it into law. Zeman previously supported more restrictions on guns in the country but had a change of heart after a series of terror attacks across Europe.

“Earlier I spoke against possession of large amounts of weapons [in the hands of the people],” Zeman said in an interview with newspaper Blesk in July, 2016. “After those attacks, I do not think so any more.”

EU recently launched legal action against the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary for allegedly breaching their obligations to the union by refusing to take refugees.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].</s>People believing that restricting firearm ownership reduces crime or terrorism isn’t a delusion unique to Democrats in the United States. The European Union has enacted gun control laws as an anti-terror measure (how’s that working out, by the way?) but people in the Czech Republic are fed up and their parliament is taking action.

The lower house of the Czech parliament has agreed to alter the constitution so that firearms can be held legally when national security is threatened.

The amendment gives Czechs the right to use firearms during terrorist attacks.

It was passed by the lower house by a big majority, and is likewise expected to be approved by the upper house.

The move by parliament is a challenge to EU gun control rules which restrict civilians from possessing certain kinds of semi-automatic weapons.

The EU argues its move is a much-needed counter-terrorism measure.

But the Czech parliament took a different view, arguing that allowing people to bear arms enables them to defend themselves against terrorism.

“We don’t want to disarm our citizens at a time when the security situation in Europe is getting worse,” Interior Minister Milan Chovanec told parliament on Wednesday.

“Show me a single terrorist attack in Europe perpetrated using a legally-owned weapon.”
The Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic passes a Czech Social Democratic Party-proposed amendment to the constitution, giving citizens the right to acquire, possess and carry firearms for the purpose of security. The constitutional amendment will now go to the Senate, where it is expected to pass.