Canadian governments have tended to disarm law-abiding people and restrict or ban firearms, leaving us defenceless or gravely disadvantaged if attacked. Other countries want to help their citizens protect themselves and each other.
The Czech Republic plans a constitutional amendment this year to allow gun-carrying civilians to shoot terrorists, RT and Radio Prague reported today, citing Interior Minister Milan Chovanec.
About 300,000 of the Czech Republic’s 10.5 million residents have firearms licences that allow them to shoot in defence of life and property, and the change would allow citizens to shoot in defence of state, Radio Prague said on its website. The amendment would require parliamentary approval, and other rules would be changed to require stricter testing of gun owners, the radio said.
“The terrorist attacks we have seen in western Europe and elsewhere have increased security concerns among the public,” Chovanec said, according to the radio. “More Czechs are getting firearms licenses and I think that if the situation does not improve in the coming months, then the number of firearms holders will grow.”
“It is a question whether all citizens who hold guns legally should be given the right to shoot at terrorists in the event of a terrorist attack,” Radio Prague quoted Andor Sandor, the former head of Czech military intelligence, as saying. “It is a completely different situation for which you have to be perfectly trained, not only to know how to use the gun, but to be psychologically prepared. Otherwise it could result in a bloodbath in which more innocent people could be killed.”
Last June, the chief of the Czech Republic’s anti-terrorism unit defended civilian firearm carry, saying police can’t be everywhere and people have the right to defend themselves.
Update: More details and context in this report by CNSNews, and this report by the Washington Post.
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