Finally: a European country that gets it!
In December, when the European Commission responded to terrorist attacks by passing stricter gun laws, only three countries stood against their impotent actions.
Now, one of them is taking matters into their own hands with a proposition to put the right to bear arms back into their Constitution and put guns into the hands of its citizens for protection.
On Wednesday, the lower house of the Czech parliament voted in favor of adding gun rights to their constitution.
“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.
“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 before Wednesday’s vote. “Show me a single terrorist attack in Europe perpetrated using a legally-owned weapon.”
While the legislation was passed by a large majority in the lower house and is expected to be passed by the upper house before it reaches the president’s desk to be signed into law.
President Milos Zeman, who had previously supported increased restrictions on guns in the Czech Republic, says the current state of Europe has prompted him to believe citizens must be able to protect themselves.
“Earlier I spoke against possession of large amounts of weapons [in the hands of the people],” Zeman said in an interview in July 2016. “After those attacks, I do not think so anymore.”
In a country of 10.6 million people, the Czech Republic has registered more than 800,000 firearms, many are antiques displayed in museums.
