U.S.A. -(AmmoLand.com)-The Czech Republic continues to be at the forefront of the battle for gun rights in Europe. On July 13th, 2020, the Czech government announced that it endorsed a plan to enshrine the right of individuals to use a firearm to defend themselves and others in the central European nation’s constitution. The move comes three years after another pro-gun constitutional amendment passed the Czech Chamber of Deputies (the lower house of the Czech Parliament) but failed to receive final approval.
Last September, 35 members of the Czech Senate introduced legislation to amend the Czech Constitution’s Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms.
The proposal would alter the charter to include language that roughly translates to the following, “The right to defend one’s life or another’s life and weapons is guaranteed under the conditions laid down by law.”
In a document explaining the forwarded change, the senators noted, “The current proposal… strengthens the fundamental rights of individuals. The proposal itself introduces a constitutional enshrinement of the right to defense with arms.” The item goes on to explain, “Given the importance of the right to life, which is the most basic right, because without life other human rights cannot be fulfilled, the proposal considers it appropriate to symbolically elevate this right to the constitutional level.”
According to European news source Euractiv, the Senate proposal came about in part due to a grassroots gun rights effort akin to those that have made Second Amendment supporters such a political force in the U.S.
Pro-gun activists had presented senators with a petition containing more than 100,000 signatures in support of greater protection for gun rights.
According to a report from the Czech News Agency (CTK), the Czech government was expected to remain neutral on the self-defense amendment, but changed its position after “an intense debate.” The proposal earned the support of Czech Defence Minister Lubomír Metnar, who cited “security developments” as a reason to back the measure.
Part of the impetus for the proposed amendment is the ongoing efforts by the European Union to curtail civilian firearm ownership. Following the terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015, the European Union expedited plans to overhaul the Firearms Directive, which sets forth the minimum threshold of gun control that each Member State must enact.
The final version of the overhauled European Firearms Directive placed new rules on almost every aspect of gun ownership; from severe restrictions on the types of semi-automatic firearms a civilian may possess to more stringent gun owner licensing requirements. EU member states were expected to conform their national laws to the Firearm Directive’s dictates by December 2019.
The chief proponent of the amendment is the conservative Civic Democrats party. According to CTK, the Civic Democrats believe the amendment “should help the country oppose the de-armament tendencies of the European Union and prevent [gun rights] from being limited by regular legislation.”
U.S. gun owners should stand in solidarity with their counterparts in the Czech Republic as they work to preserve armed self-defense as a fundamental human right and combat the efforts of transnational agents of civilian disarmament.
About NRA-ILA:
Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the “lobbying” arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Visit: www.nra.org
I am glad to hear that another country is willing to recognize the universal right to keep and bear arms.
Super! We stand in solidarity with every country that moves toward self- defense and greater personal freedom!
If pressed by the EU to stand down on their gun rights, I hope the Czech Republic tells them to go to hell.
Just like there, I think many of us will have to die, the others will have to be oppressed for several decades, we already live in a police state, and our rights will have to be stripped before we will begin to see the importance for the need for guns. Look at what the Czech people have been put through and now they understand. These snowflakes here and elsewhere have no idea what the world, and the evil in it, is like.
Very, very few people in any population are willing to bleed for their liberty much less sweat for it. Semper Fi
“The right to defend one’s life or another’s life and weapons is guaranteed under the conditions laid down by law.” This is unfortunately very Eurozone sounding. The right to self defense is a natural right granted to us by our Creator by the clear fact of Creation. It is not a result of law. It is the underlying foundation of all law. If not, it has no authority nor does any government that denies this most fundamental of all rights.
In 1968 Czechoslovakia tried to democratize Communism. They were invaded by their erstwhile Warsaw Pact allies and their government overthrown and replaced with one that would dance to Moscow’s tune.
The only way they were able to resist was to engage in self immolation in front of Russian troops (I hope the sukinsyni are still wrecking their livers to
deal with the PTSD from seeing that).
Of course the Czechs understand the need for private gun ownership. Wish we could swap them one for one for those who want to disarm their fellow Americans.
I’d like to think that our American example is spreading. Thus giving
grief to the feudal aspirations of the globalists. Hong Kong and the
Czech Republic are making the decision to emulate American individual
liberty. Proving that we are the shining light on the hill.
Hi from small Czech rep. Is it battle for our freedom life, is not about guns only…EU don!t want any gun licence in the future for civil sector and step by step make troubles…