• Home
  • About
    • About Christopher di Armani
    • Disclosure Statement
    • Code of Ethics
    • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Gun Laws 101
  • FPO Violators
  • Store
  • Donate
  • Hire Me

Christopher di Armani.com

In Praise of Individual Rights and Freedoms

  • Top 25
  • Big Brother
    • Access To Information
    • Bureaucratic Incompetence
    • Bureaucrat’s Rule #1
    • Censorship
    • Feeding at the Government Trough
    • Lemonade Freedom
  • Common Sense
    • Expressions of Gratitude
    • Good Samaritans
    • Good Stuff
    • In Memoriam — Remembering our Heros
    • Life
    • Personal Responsibility
    • Politically Correct Madness
  • Courts
    • Abusive Prosecutions
    • Civil Forfeiture
    • Human Rights Tribunals
    • Judicial Corruption
    • Justice Denied
    • Justice System Abuses
    • Police Sentencing Double-Standards
    • Prosecutorial Misconduct
    • SLAPP Lawsuits
  • Crime
    • Abuse of Trust
    • Canadian Mass Murders
    • Firearm Prohibition Orders
    • Human Depravity
    • Immigration Issues
    • Racism
    • Restraining Orders
    • Sexual Predators
    • Violent Criminals
    • Wrongful Convictions
  • Guns
    • Concealed Carry
    • Dial 9-1-1 and Die
    • Firearms Act
    • Fun Gun Stuff
    • Gun Control
    • Gun-Free Zones
    • Gun Politics
    • Gun Registration
    • Negligent Discharges
    • Target Shooting Competitions
  • Islam
    • Canadian Islamic Disgraces
    • Islamic Terrorism
    • Radical Islam
    • Sharia Law
    • The Religion Of Peace
  • Police
    • Abuse of Police Authority
    • Filming Police
    • Great Police Officers
    • Officer Down
    • Police Brutality
    • Police Corruption
    • Police Misconduct
    • RCMP Accountability
    • RCMP Hall of Shame
    • Warrantless Searches
  • Politics
    • Elections
    • Ethics in Politics
    • Political Antics
    • Political Corruption
    • Social Justice
    • Stupid Human Tricks
    • Union Bay Improvement District
  • Rights
    • Charter of Rights and Freedoms
    • Constitutional Violations
    • Freedom of Assembly
    • Freedom of Religion
    • Freedom of Speech
    • Property Rights
    • Privacy Rights
    • Self-Defense
    • Unreasonable Search and Seizure

The Czech Republic’s Constitutional Right to Bear Arms

Published July 9, 2020 by Christopher di Armani Filed Under: Gun Control, Guns


On December 15, 2016, the Czech Republic began the process to enshrine the right to bear arms in its constitution.

Google Translate’s rendition of the original Czech constitutional amendment:

In light of the current security situation in the world, it is proposed in the Constitutional Act on the Security of the Czech Republic to enshrine the right of citizens to use weapons and ammunition in defence of life, health and property.

This movement was a direct response to the European Union’s 2016 Firearms Directive 91/477/EEC, which demanded all EU nations adhere to minimum standards for firearm laws.

These minimum standards, under four separate categories of firearms, included:

  • Prohibiting automatic firearms, explosive, incendiary ammunition and flechettes (think Canada’s Bill C-51 in 1997)
  • Restricting firearm ownership to those 18 years old and older with prior authorization (similar to Canada’s firearm licensing system for gun owners)
  • A ban on any firearm that looked similar to any automatic firearm (sound familiar?)
  • Medical test for anyone who seeks authorization to possess firearms

These minimum standards did not sit well with Czech gun owners or many in the Czech government.

The Czech Republic was one of three countries to oppose the EU Firearms Directive. The Czech Republic, Luxembourg and Poland all voted against the directive.

The primary reason for firearm ownership in the Czech Republic is self-defence, unlike most of the rest of the European Union. Given their turbulent past, it’s easy to understand why.

Like many former Soviet states, Czechoslovakians don’t trust government and are very hesitant to give up their personal arms. They’ve seen where disarmament leads, first hand, and are in no hurry to revisit their recent past at the behest of the European Union.

David Kopel explains.

The Czechs and Slovaks had suffered under Nazi tyranny from 1939 until 1945. [Under communism] they were again under the totalitarian boot, and would remain so until 1989, when the communist Evil Empire finally collapsed because of the strong policies begun by President Ronald Reagan in 1981.

Once free, the Czechs and Slovaks soon decided on an amicable divorce and created separate republics. Today, their freedom, like freedom everywhere in the West, is again in peril as new generation of proto-totalitarians are hard at work to destroy dissent from “socialist” orthodoxy and to eradicate the right to arms and self-defense.

“What angers us the most is the fact that the EU is using the combating of terrorism as a pretext to affect citizens who are doing nothing wrong,” said David Karásek, spokesman of LEX, one of the Czech gun owner associations lobbying to stop the EU’s Firearms Directive.

“The amendment is only aimed at legally owned weapons. Terrorists use either illegal weapons, or deactivated firearms which have been illegally put in use again,” he said.

The tactics of the EU and the response of ordinary Czech gun owners sounds eerily familiar, don’t they?

Amendment Passes the Czech Parliament

On June 28, 2017, the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Czech Parliament, passed a draft amendment to the Constitution that would place the right to own guns in the 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,” the bill read.

The Chamber of Deputies put the right to bear arms into the Czech constitution, contrary to a European Union’s Firearms Directive which was sold to member states as a means of combatting terrorism.

While passing in the Chamber of Deputies was a great start, the right to bear arms still had to pass by a two-thirds majority in the Czech Senate, a formidable hurdle.

On the plus side, Czech President Milos Seman supports the measure.

“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.”

The best way to ensure safety for the people, according to Zeman, is to make it easier for people to obtain gun permits.

Senate Blocks Amendment

On the downside, on July 11, 2017, the Permanent Senate Committee for Constitution and Parliamentary Procedures passed Resolution No. 5, which called the amendment “unnecessary and potentially harmful.”

The Senate went on to declare not everyone, but Member States cannot unilaterlyl exclude themselves from EU laws and regulations – not exactly a ringing endorsement for the constitutional right to bear arms in the Czech Republic.

They declared the constitutional amendment symbolic, at best, since European Union law supersedes the national law of all Member States.

On December 6, 2017, only 28 members of the Czech Senate voted in favour of the constitutional right to bear arms and the proposed amendment failed.

Second Lease on Life

On September 24, 2019, a group of 35 Senators resurrected the process and, on June 11, 2020, 41 of 61 Senators voted in favour of restarting the constitutional amendment process.

This required a second vote, at which point the process fell a single vote short of reaching constitutional majority.

Despite a valiant second effort, it appears (as far as I’m able to discern) the Czech Republic’s attempt to enshrine the right to bear arms in their constitution is dead.

Author

  • Christopher di Armani
    Christopher di Armani

    Christopher di Armani is a freedom-loving Amazon bestselling author and current events commentator from Lytton, BC, Canada, who strives to awaken the passion for liberty inside every human being.

    View all posts

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Tags: constitutional amendment, Czech President Milos Seman, Czech Republic, firearm ownership, Right to Bear Arms, right to keep and bear arms

Did you find value in this article?

If you found this article useful or it contained valuable information and you want to thank me, the best way is to buy me a coffee or two.

1. Send an Interac eTransfer to author @ christopherdiarmani.net (remove spaces)

2. Send via PayPal using this link: https://www.paypal.me/ThatLibertyGuy

3. Use your credit card in my online store to support me with a one-time donation, a monthly recurring donation, or an annual donation. See these links for all the details about the thank-you gifts I offer my supporters.

Comments

  1. RCEME says

    July 9, 2020 at 10:51 am

    UN vs Star fleet, Gene Roddenberry was a prophet, the new world order. Why would something as powerful as the EU or UN need to disarm a people of their right to protect themselves? The reasons are as lame in Europe as in the West. At least their Government has the junk to hold it out in the open and not shroud it in blanket covered deception. When no one was looking, with diversion tactics in place, our Government ran to the apple tree stole another juicy fruit and ran off with no one the wiser.
    2020 the year of the beginning of the end with a new beginning,
    Thank you Sir for all your hard work.

    Reply
  2. Clive Edwards says

    July 10, 2020 at 7:18 am

    Firearms have been part of my life since I was a pre-teen. The Scouting movement and the fish and game clubs taught and required absolute firearms responsibility as the basis of their entry level safety courses.

    We are no safer, and perhaps less safe, now that what is legal has replaced what used to be common sense. We must be judged on our actions, not on our paperwork.

    The shooting sports are immensely enjoyable. Hunting can be a healthier source of meat than “factory farms”. Collecting firearms is, in my book, more interesting than collecting stamps or watches.. A gun and a box of ammo trump a cellphone that may or may not even connect to the network in an emergency,

    Sovereignty includes the ability and the right to defend that sovereignty, whether that sovereign entity is a state or an individual.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to my commentaries

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Latest Tweets

Follow @ThatLibertyGuy

Christopher di Armani 🇨🇦 🇺🇸
@ThatLibertyGuy


  • about 54 years ago
    Reply Retweet Favorite

Most Popular This Week

  • All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing
  • OPP Sergeant Jamie Gillespie Pleads Guilty to attempting to intercept private communications
  • Officer Down: Truro Police Service Constable Catherine Campbell
  • Two-Tier Justice: One law for mere citizens… another law for Police
  • Dale Merle Nelson’s 1970 Murder Spree in Creston, British Columbia
  • Rapinder (Rob) Sidhu: Reason #6 to Dump the BC RCMP
  • OPP Sgt. Mike Dolderman’s Sexual Assault Trial Delayed Again

Most Popular This Month

  • All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing
  • Whose Children Are They in the Age of Government Overreach?
  • How did Live-Streaming Rape Become a ‘Thing’?
  • Dale Merle Nelson’s 1970 Murder Spree in Creston, British Columbia
  • Escaped Mental Patient William Bernard Lepine and the 1972 Kettle Valley Murders
  • Former NFA President Jim Hinter Surfaces At Last… with more criminal charges
  • Rapinder (Rob) Sidhu: Reason #6 to Dump the BC RCMP

© 2004–2023 ChristopherDiArmani.com | All Rights Reserved

Close

Buy me a cup of coffee

A ridiculous amount of coffee was consumed in the process of writing these articles. If you enjoy my work, please buy me a coffee or two to keep me going!