By: José Niño
The Czech Republic’s Senate has passed a measure to add an amendment to the nation’s constitution to safeguard citizens’ right to defend themselves with a firearm.
According to Prague Morning, the amendment was added to “The Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms.”
The amendment states: “The right to defend one’s own life or the life of another person with a weapon is guaranteed under the conditions laid down by law.”
AWR Hawkins of Breitbart News explained why the amendment the Czech Parliament proposed the amendment:
The amendment was pushed because of “disarmament trends in the EU.” Those who pushed the amendment wanted to insure the right to use firearms for self-defense was recognized as being above restrictions which come from “ordinary law.”
Senator Martin Červíček believes that. “The proposal is not only symbolic in nature but can also serve as insurance for the future.”
The desire for a right to bear arms is not an elite affair in the Czech Republic. In fact, there’s evidence to show that there was a grassroots effort on the part of Czech citizens to have Parliament take up this issue.
Expats CZ observed the “amendment comes as a reaction to a petition signed by 102,000 people, including a number of top elected officials.”
The amendment is expected to go into effect between August 1, 2021, and September 1, 2021.
As an ex-Warsaw Pact country, Czechs understand the importance of having sovereignty and enjoying freedoms. During the Cold War, they were largely deprived of basic freedoms as a satellite state of the Soviet Union.
Since the Soviet Union imploded in 1991, however, the Czech Republic has dramatically moved away from the totalitarian model of yesteryear that its citizens had to endure for decades. With the Czech Republic embracing the right to bear arms, it is now opening up the conversation in Europe — a continent that is largely hostile to the concept.
America is truly exceptional when it comes to the right to bear arms. Other countries, though, stand to benefit from having lawful citizens being able to defend themselves. The Czech Republic should be congratulated for breaking the mold and showing its fellow European countries that the right to bear arms does not have to be confined to the US.
Hopefully, other European countries follow suit and consider legislation that relaxes gun ownership for their law-abiding citizens.
José Niño is a freelance writer based in Austin, Texas. Sign up for his mailing list here. Contact him via Facebook, Twitter, or email him at [email protected]. Get his e-book, The 10 Myths of Gun Control, here.