Gun law in the Czech Republic

History

Firearms and religious freedom

Gun regulation after the Hussite Wars

18th and 19th century gun laws

Imperial Regulation No. 223

Independent Czechoslovakia

Nazi gun ban

Communist gun ban

Post Velvet Revolution liberal laws

EU gun ban

Current law

Categories of licenses

Obtaining a license

Age

Qualification

• Theoretical exam: The theoretical exam consists of a written test of 30 multiple choice questions with a maximum of 79 points possible. To pass the written exam, 67 points are needed for category A, 71 for category B or C, and 74 for category D or E. The test deals with the following issues:
• Practical exam

Health clearance

Criminal integrity

• After being conditionally discharged, the criminal integrity is regained after the probation period ends or in 3 years in special cases
• After serving less than 2 years or being sentenced to different kind of punishment than imprisonment, the criminal integrity is regained after 5 years
• After being sentenced for 2 to 5 years, the criminal integrity is regained after 10 years
• After being sentenced for 5 to 12 years, the criminal integrity is regained after 20 years
• After being sentenced for more than 12 years the criminal integrity is never regained.

Personal reliability

• Committing a crime and being conditionally discharged, until the probation period ends.
• Excessive use of alcohol or addictive substances
• Committing multiple misdemeanors from specific segments of the law. Only one transgression in the last 3 years is tolerated. Other types of misdemeanors do not count to personal reliability criteria.

Obtaining of a license by a foreigner

Categories of guns

Obtaining firearms

• To obtain a gun from the A category, the person must ask for a may-issue "exemption" from the police and demonstrate a specific reason why they want such a weapon.
• * For private physical persons, the only acceptable reason is collecting;
• * for physical or legal persons having an armament license for professional purposes the acceptable reasons include providing security for dangerous or valuable shipments or VIP objects, manufacturing or testing of firearms, providing training in use of A category firearms, or filming in case that the firearm is adjusted for use of dummy rounds.
• The B category of guns requires permission from the police. Before buying the gun the person must visit the police and fill in the "permit to buy, own and carry" form for the particular weapon.
• The C category of guns can be bought at a gun shop after presenting the gun license. However, the gun needs to be registered later at the police.

Shooting ranges

Carrying a firearm

License types

• No carry: Holders of A license may only obtain and possess firearms and are not allowed to carry them or shoot with them.
• Transport only: Holders of B license may only transport their firearms to and from the areas designated for sport shooting. The firearms must be transported in a closed container and in a manner that excludes their immediate use.
• Concealed carry: Holders of category D and E license may carry up to two firearms ready for immediate use. The firearms must be carried in concealed manner. The requirement of concealed carry applies also for D holders of restricted firearms.
• Open carry: Only the members of Municipal Police and of the Czech National Bank's security, as holders of D license, may carry their firearms openly while on duty. Members of state police, prison service and other governmental security agencies do not need any gun license and are permitted/required by other laws to open or concealed carry while on duty.

  Ammunition restrictions

Armament licences

• A – Development or manufacturing of firearms/ammunition
• B – Repairs, modifications or deactivation of firearms/ammunition
• C – Firearms/ammunition buying and selling
• D – Lending and safekeeping of firearms/ammunition
• E – Deactivation or destruction of weapons/ammunition
• F – Training in handling and using firearms/ammunition
• G – Providing security for persons/property.
• H – Cultural, sports and hobby shooting activities.
• I – Collecting and displaying firearms/ammunition
• J – Securing tasks defined by special legal enactments.
• K – Pyrotechnical Survey

  Self defense with firearms

Utmost necessity

• The consequences of defensive action may not be equal or greater than that of endangerment.
• There is no other way of deflecting the danger than by taking the given action, i.e. a concept cimilar to common law duty to retreat.

  Necessary self defense

Eligible use of a gun

Defensive gun use cases

• 1991 defensive killing of a Nazi skinhead by a famous sculptor Pavel Opočenský, who attempted to help a couple that had been attacked on the street of Prague. Opočenský stabbed a 17-year-old metal-bar-wielding skinhead. The case included several reversals of Opočenský's conviction by higher court and significantly advanced case law on self defense. White power skinheads also conducted various protests throughout the many years of trials. A neo-nazi band Agrese 95 released a song titled "We shall go together and kill Opočenský."
• In 1993, a group of five men decided to visit a friend who had previously brokered a deal, under which the men loaned 3,3 million CZK to a Slovak entrepreneur. Instead of making quick profit on the loan, the men lost almost all of the loaned money. The broker first let the men into his house, but as the conversation heated up, he ordered them to leave. Due to their reluctance the broker ordered them to leave again, this time at gunpoint. While three of the men ran away from the house, the remaining two attacked the broker and managed to disarm him, at which point one shot went out from the firearm, not hitting anyone. The attack against the broker continued and included fingers being pushed into his eyes, which left him unable to see. The broker however managed to get hold of another firearm during the brawl, a six-shot Arminius HW.38 revolver and fired off five shots. Three of them turned out to be perfect headshots, instantly killing the attackers. The broker was first charged with double murder. Due to unusual circumstances, the police investigation ran for two years without indictment as the police ordered the making of several written expert opinions. The case was closed in 1995 as legitimate self-defense with charges being dropped.
• In 2003, Slavoj Hašek was awoken by commotion from outside of his house. Hašek left his house with a shotgun and pursued a thief. After the thief got to his own car and drove it in Hašek's direction, he shot and killed him. Hašek was sentenced to five years imprisonment with the High Court in Olomouc arguing that the defense could not be legitimate, since the shot went through a side window rather than through the front windshield. Hašek was pardoned by President Václav Klaus shortly thereafter.
• In 2006 a private security guard with a pistol pursued on foot two men whom he believed tried to steal scrap metal. The men climbed on a railway embankment and started throwing rocks down at the guard who thereafter shot ten rounds in their direction, mortally wounding one of them in the head. The guard was first convicted of murder by the Municipal Court in Prague and given a sentence of 7 years imprisonment. The decision was changed by the High Court in Prague to conviction of intentional infliction of bodily harm resulting in death and a sentence of five years imprisonment. The guard was finally exonerated by the Supreme Court in Brno which considered his action legitimate self-defense, noting that defense must be clearly more intensive than attack in order to be successful, and that the stones and bricks being thrown presented grave danger to the man's life.
• In 2009, a security system at a scrap metal yard, which had been repeatedly burglarized, went off. The yard's owner was at the time on a hunt close to the yard and drove directly to it. A group of burglars jumped into their car and attempted to drive away. The owner used his shotgun and attempted to shoot the car's tires, hitting and wounding two of its occupants. He was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment for intentional infliction of bodily harm, a sentence that was confirmed on appeal. The owner received full presidential pardon.
• In 2010, a student from Azerbaijan was verbally attacked by a group of other foreigners in a bar in Prague. The student left the bar and proceeded to his friend's car, being followed by the group who continued to verbally attack him and his family and stating that "the issue needs to be solved immediately". The student recovered a knife from the car and took a stand. Thereafter one of the foreigners started punching him. The student stabbed one of the four attackers and then engaged in a fight with another, whom he stabbed in the leg and who bled to death. The Municipal Court in Prague convicted the Azerbaijanian student of intentional infliction of bodily harm with excusable motive and sentenced him to two years in prison. The decision was overturned by the High Court in Prague who considered the death an outcome of legitimate self-defense. The Supreme State Attorney mounted an extraordinary appeal to the Supreme Court, which however confirmed the acquittal, noting that the verbal abuse continued even after the victim got into the car and he could thus legitimately perceive it as an ongoing attack. The Supreme Court also refused the Municipal Court's previous line of argumentation that the victim could have easily left the place once in the car as well as its reasoning that the threat did not reach such an intensity as to justify a lethal defense.
• In 2012, two brothers in their early 20s, one of them armed with a knife, attacked a 63-year-old man in a town in the Northern Bohemian borderland. He shot both attackers with his legally owned pistol, killing one of them. The police closed the case as legitimate self-defense six months later and brought charges against the surviving attacker.
• In the 2017 Chomutov incident, a 37-year-old man believed that a vehicular rampage is taking place in front of his home and in an effort to stop it, he shot the 34 year old driver dead. The ensuing court trial gained major public attention.
• In 2017, a man with criminal and drug abuse history attempted to rob a store in Prague, armed with a knife. He managed to stab the store clerk in the neck, but was then shot by store owner's wife and later died in hospital. Police ruled out the shooting as legitimate self-defense. She was later awarded for the deed by the Prague City Council.
• In 2018, a man riding a tram in Ostrava started attacking other commuters with a glass bottle and fist punches. When he started to stomp on a head of one of them, a woman with concealed carry license pulled out her handgun and ordered him to stop or be shot. He complied and stopped the attack. She later received a medal from the City of Ostrava for the deed.
• In 2018, a drunk man refused to pay in a pub and verbally attacked a female bartender, another guest tried to defend the bartender but was attacked instead. The defender reached for his revolver, while being strangled on the ground, and fired a shot into the attacker. The attacker died. At first, the prosecutor didn't push any charges. Later, this case has been brought to court and ruled legitimate self defense.

  Popularity of guns

Incidents and gun crimes

• 2001 shooting of three policemen who were called by a woman claiming she was being attacked by her husband. On the scene, the policemen were negotiating with the husband who was threatening to commit suicide with his legally owned.38 revolver. When the situation seemed about to be peacefully solved, the hysteric wife ran into the room. The husband thereafter shot three policemen and committed suicide.
• 2005 "Forest Killer", who was planning to go on a killing spree in Prague Metro. As part of his preparation, the former policeman randomly murdered two hikers in a forest and another person four days later in another forest about 200 km from the first killing with his legally owned Glock. Police captured Kalivoda a week later, thus preventing further murders. Kalivoda was sentenced to life imprisonment. While in prison, he committed suicide in 2010. Being a former policeman, Kalivoda had passed a difficult psychological evaluation as part of the police selection procedure.
• 2013 Raškovice shooting, where a 31-year-old schoolteacher invaded house of one of his students, aged 17, with whom he had allegedly been previously intimately involved, and shot the student and her grandparents, using various legally owned firearms. The perpetrator had passed psychological evaluation ordered by his general practitioner before getting gun license. He was sentenced to 27 years imprisonment.
• 2015 Uherský Brod shooting, the second mass murder committed with a firearm in the country's peacetime history, in which a deranged individual murdered 8 people. He was a holder of a gun license and legally owned both of the guns he used in the shooting. Previously, he and his wife committed misdemeanors against public order, which would have allowed police to revoke his license. The first mass murder with use of a firearm in modern Czech history happened in 2009 in Petřvald with four victims and the third happened in 2019 in Ostrava with seven people shot dead; both were committed with illegally held handguns.

  General attitudes to guns and efforts to change the law

• 2004 – inclusion of pyrotechnical survey under the act
• 2005 – change of definition of historical firearms from "developed or manufactured prior to 1890" to "manufactured prior to 1890"
• 2008
• * inclusion of citizens of European Economic Area and Switzerland under the same set rules pertaining to citizens of EU countries
• * tighter sanctions for use of firearms while intoxicated
• 2009 – exemption for A category firearms may now be given only A category license holder, A category firearms may not be conceal carried any more,
• 2014
• * new licenses issued for 10 years instead of 5
• * in case that police has a well founded suspicion that the gun owner's state of health has changed so as to lead to loss of his health clearance, they may ask him to present a new health clearance, failure to do so within 30 days may lead to revocation of license
• * new possibility of license owner to surrender the license, if he wishes to do so
• * possibility of B and C category license holders to obtain exemption for A category accessories
• * E category license holder allowed to reload ammunition for their own purposes
• 2016
• * in case that police have a well founded suspicion that the gun owner's state of health has changed so as to lead to loss of his health clearance so that he may present danger to self or others, they may provisionally seize his firearms and ammo; in case that the given person fails to comply, police may also enter his home without judicial warrant to do so; however, firearms must be returned to the owner immediately after reasons for seizure expire – adopted in reaction to Uherský Brod shooting
• * police allowed to enter home and other premises without judicial warrant in case that other reason for seizure of firearms exists and the owner has failed to surrender them
• * police use new registry of misdemeanors for determination of personal reliability – adopted in reaction to Uherský Brod shooting
• 2017
• * laser sights are not A category accessory any more
• * government loses authority to order surrender of firearms during state of emergency or war
• * F category license no longer issued, transferred to armament license

2014 European parliamentary elections

2015 European Union "Gun Ban" Directive

• Government Resolution No. 428/2016 of 11 May 2016
• Resolution of Chamber of Deputies No. 668/2016 of 20 April 2016
• Senate Resolution No. 401/2016 of 20 April 2016
• Joint Declaration of Ministers of the Interior of Visegrad Group of 19 January 2016

• Risks to internal security: According to Czech Ministry of Interior, the main danger of the proposal rested in massive transfer of now legal firearms into illegality, with up to hundreds of thousands of legal firearms entering black market. While the original Commission proposal would affect 40,000 – 50,000 firearms legally possessed by Czech citizens, Dutch EU Council Presidency proposal of 4 April 2016 would affect some 400,000 legally owned firearms, i.e. making half of all Czech legally owned firearms illegal with large proportion of gun owners likely refusing to surrender their firearms. The proposal as such is in direct contradiction with Ministry's long-term objective of lowering of number of illegal firearms and of conducting effective supervision of firearm owners.
• Risk to defensive capabilities: Security forces are not changing armaments annually, and thus small arms manufacturers need civilians as key customers. Crippling of civilian firearms market would likely lead to end of firearms manufacturing in the Czech Republic. At the same time, familiarity with semi-automatic versions of army rifles by civilians is a clear defensive advantage in case these people need to be drafted to defend the country.
• Threat to national culture: The proposal would lead to permanent deactivation of firearms owned by collectors and museums, including army museums, even though there is no empirical data supporting need for such a measure.
• Rise of unemployment: The proposal would lead to cancellation of tens of thousands of work places in the Czech Republic alone.
• Impact on hunting: Semiautomatic rifles have been purposefully used for hunting in the Czech Republic since at least 1946 and they are especially effective and popular in curbing wild boar overpopulation that is responsible for large number of car accidents as well as damage to agriculture. Banning of these firearms would likely lead to increase of car accidents due to collisions with wild animals and consequent increase in number of injuries and fatalities.
• Impact on state budget: As Czech constitution does not allow confiscation without remuneration, the government would have to pay up to tens of billions Czech crowns as compensation for banned firearms. Meanwhile, rise in unemployment would further impact budget income.

2016 Constitutional Amendment Proposal (failed)

• The proposal falls outside of jurisdiction of EU law, as
• * Article 4 of TEU respects basic functions of state, including maintenance of public order and provision of national security.
• * Article 72 of TFEU states that "This Title shall not affect the exercise of the responsibilities incumbent upon Member States with regard to the maintenance of law and order and the safeguarding of internal security."
• * Article 276 of TFEU: "In exercising its powers regarding the provisions of Chapters 4 and 5 of Title V of Part Three relating to the area of freedom, security and justice, the Court of Justice of the European Union shall have no jurisdiction to review the exercise of the responsibilities incumbent upon Member States with regard to the maintenance of law and order and the safeguarding of internal security."
• The proposal falls outside of scope of the Firearms Directive, as
• * territorial authority of the proposal falls strictly within the Czech Republic
• * personal authority of the proposal falls strictly on citizens of the Czech Republic and does not extend even to EU foreigners living in the country
• * the proposal does not deal with acquisition of firearms for the purposes of hunting and sport shooting, which are the main areas that the Firearms Directive is concerned with

• 27 February 2017: the proposal was discussed by the Government of the Czech Republic, showing a clear split between coalition parties as all 7 ČSSD Ministers supported the proposal, while ANO and KDU-ČSL Ministers either rejected it or abstained. Lacking majority in either way, the Government didn't take any official position on the proposal. Legally, under the Article 44 of the Czech Constitution, failure to declare any opinion on a proposed act by Government means that the Government supports the proposal. Government's position is only advisory.
• 12 April 2017: The proposal entered first reading in the Chamber of Deputies. There were altogether 57 entries of MPs and Ministers into the debate. None proposed vote for dismissal. The proposal was assigned to Constitutional Committee and to Security Committee to make an advisory recommendation. The Committees' time for deliberation was shortened to 54 days.
• 19 April 2017: Following discussion, the Security Committee endorsed the proposal by a vote of 10 to 1.
• 31 March 2017: The Constitutional Committee endorsed the proposal. Out of 12 present deputies, 11 supported it and 1 abstained from voting.
• 7 June 2017: The proposal entered second reading in the Chamber of Deputies. With no motions for dismissal or for changes of the lodged text, the proposal moved to third reading in line with recommendation of the two Committees representatives, whose were the only entries into the debate concerning the proposal.
• 28 June 2017: The proposal entered third and final reading in the Chamber of Deputies. After nearly 3 hours of debate, the proposal passed with 139 votes. Only 9 deputies voted against it. The proposal was supported by Social democrats, ANO, Communist party, Civic Democrats and the original Dawn of Direct Democracy deputies.The support was much lower in TOP 09 and especially KDU-ČSL.
• 24 July 2017: The proposal was officially handed over from the Chamber of Deputies to the Senate. Before this happened, the Permanent Senate Committee for Constitution and Parliamentary Procedures adopted on 11 July 2017 Resolution No. 5 which labels the proposal as "useless and potentially harmful". Out of 8 Senators and non-senate members of the committee present, 6 supported the Resolution proposed by Committee's chair and former Constitutional Court Justice Eliška Wagnerová. Two senators abstained.
• 5 October 2017: A petition against the EU Gun Ban signed by over 100.000 citizens was debated during a public hearing in the Senate. Apart from the EU Directive, the debate largely centered on the proposed amendment.
• The plenary session of the Senate postponed a vote on the proposal planned on 11 October 2017 to a later date.
• The Senate voted on the proposal on 6 December 2017. Only 28 out of 59 Senators present supported the proposal, failing to reach the 36 votes necessary. The proposal was thus sacked. On the same day, the Senate adopted a resolution calling upon the Government not to implement parts of the Eu Gun Ban that are not related to fighting terrorism, i.e. restrictions legal firearms that had not been used during commitment of any of terror attacks.

2019 Constitutional Amendment Proposal (ongoing)

Other types of weapons