Czech Republic Interior Minister Milan Chovanec has proposed a constitutional amendment to protect gun rights from EU interference.
Chovanec’s proposal comes in the wake of an EU Firearms Directive that portends even more restrictions on heavily gun-controlled, law-abiding European citizens. The Directive is the EU’s response to firearm-based terror and criminal attacks in Paris, Copenhagen, Munich and numerous other locations.
In other words, terrorists and criminals misused firearms in various European cities, so gun control must be increased on everyone else. This is a lesson in itself, regardless of whether we are talking about Paris, Munich or Chicago. The radical Left always responds to gun control’s failures by pushing more and more gun control.
Consider Paris—12 innocents were gunned down in cold blood on Jan. 7, 2015, despite the fact that France has universal background checks, licensing requirements, bans on entire categories of guns, shooting club membership requirements for gun owners, and perpetual mental and physical checkup demands to maintain gun ownership. These controls notwithstanding, terrorists in Paris shot and killed another 130 innocents on Nov. 13, 2015.But none of these gun controls impede a determined attacker, regardless of where they are implemented.
On July 22, 2016, David Ali Sonboly opened fire in Munich, Germany, killing nine innocents. He did this although Germany’s gun controls are as stringent as those in France. The New York Times reported that the process of acquiring a gun in Germany occurs “over the course of several months.” It includes the issuance of “a certificate that proves you know how to handle both the weapon and its ammunition. You must prove that you can store it safely, in a place to which only you, as the owner, have access,” among other things.
But none of these gun controls impede a determined attacker, regardless of where they are implemented.
The EU’s response? Pass even more controls via the Firearms Directive.
Czech Interior Minister Chovanec sees another solution—one in which the ability of law-abiding citizens to shoot back is protected by amending his nation’s constitution. EURACTIV reports that the amendment is backed “by the Social Democrats, the main coalition party.” And Chovanec believes votes for the amendment are present in the Czech parliament, where passage will require “the support of at least three-fifths of deputies and three-fifths of senators.”
The contrast between the approach of the EU versus the approach of Chovanec and the Social Democrats could not be more stark. The EU seeks further restrictions—a greater level of disarmament—that will only impact law-abiding citizens to begin with, making them even weaker in the face of terrorists. But Chovanec seeks to be sure law-abiding citizens retain the ability to be armed for self-defense; the ability to fight terrorism personally wherever—and whenever—it rears its ugly head. The “explanatory memorandum” affixed to Chovanec’s amendment makes this clear, saying, “The proposal has to be perceived in the context of European Commission’s efforts to limit owners of legal weapons under the pretense of fight against terrorism.”
The UK’s Express highlighted Chovanec’s approach by reporting, “Czech Republic could give citizens right to carry weapons to USE ON TERRORISTS.” This is commonsensical to Americans who enjoy a heritage of gun ownership for self-defense, but it is unique among Europeans who have traded many individual liberties for the elusive security of globalization.
Chovanec is thinking about the individual rather than the globalist and he wants to do what he can to address the individual’s concerns over securing himself. He said as much when he stressed that terror attacks “in Western Europe and elsewhere have increased security concerns among the public.”But Chovanec seeks to be sure law-abiding citizens retain the ability to be armed for self-defense …
How do you address these concerns? In part, you do so by being sure the public’s ability to arm themselves for self-defense is protected.
Perhaps the Prague Monitor put it best by reporting: “The Czech Interior Ministry … wants to enable the owners of legally possessed firearms to intervene against terrorists. Any possibility of legal defense to lower the attackers' chances is desirable in view of the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms.”
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter at @AWRHawkins, or reach him directly at [email protected].
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