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. 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. 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. 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. 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 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.