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Gun politics in the Czech Republic

Firearms Act
Act on Firearms and Ammunition
Citation No. 119/2002 Coll.
Enacted by Czech Parliament
Date enacted 9 April 2002
Date commenced 1 January 2003
Introduced by Miloš Zeman's Government
Related legislation
Regulation of Ministry of Interior No. 115/2014 Coll., on Execution of Certain Sections of Firearms and Ammunition Act (Firearms Regulation)
Status: In force

Gun politics in the Czech Republic incorporates the political and regulatory aspects of firearms usage in the country. Policy in the Czech Republic is in many respects less restrictive than elsewhere in the European Union (see Gun politics in the European Union).

A gun in the Czech Republic is available to anybody subject to acquiring a shall issue firearms license first. Gun licenses may be obtained in a way very similar to a driving license - by passing a gun proficiency exam, medical examination and having a clean criminal record. Unlike in most other European countries, the Czech gun legislation also permits a citizen to carry a concealed weapon for self-defense - 240.000 out of some 300.000 legal gun owners have concealed carry permit. Vast majority of Czech gun owners possess their firearms for self-defense, with hunting and sport shooting being less common.

The permissive politics have a very long tradition, with the term pistol originating in 15th-century Czech language. The Czech lands have been the manufacturing center (including weapons industry) of Central Europe for over two centuries. Firearms possession was severely restricted during German occupation and subsequent communist dictatorship, with ownership rates gradually rising ever since 1989 Velvet Revolution. Today the Czech Republic is home to arms manufacturers that include Česká zbrojovka Uherský Brod and Sellier & Bellot.

The Czech Crown lands witnessed one of the earliest mass uses of firearms, in the early 1420s and 1430s by the Hussites who are even today revered as national heroes. Žižka's use of guns, which had previously been used only during sieges of towns, as a field artillery in the Battle of Kutná Hora was first such recorded utilization. Use of firearms, together with the wagon fort, was one of the key features of Hussite war strategy, which defeated five crusades, launched against the reformation revolt. The word used for one of the guns used by the Hussites, Czech: píšťala, later found its way through German and French into English as the term pistol. Another gun used by the Hussites, the Czech: houfnice, gave rise to the English term, "howitzer".


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