More Spaniards Want to Be Armed for Self-Defense

People in Spain are calling for a change in firearms laws to offer better protections for Spaniards and an expansion of their self-defense rights.

Santiago Abascal, the leader who heads the movement, stated in an interview that “the concept of legitimate defense needs to be widened” in the country.

According to El Pais, the law is written in a way that requires one of three conditions to be met for a citizen to be cleared of criminal responsibility when using a firearm, including: “a response to unlawful violence, a rational need to stop it using the means employed, and it was unprovoked by the defendant.” Article 20.4 of the Spanish criminal code, however, states that “illegal entry” into a home is not a lawful cause for violence.

Abascal said the Spain’s laws treat “people like villains and their attackers like victims”.

According to the U.S. Library of Congress, “Applicants for a gun owner’s license are required to prove that they have a genuine reason to possess a firearm—for example, hunting, target shooting, collection, self-defense, or security”.

Abascal, who obtained a license to protect his family from danger and terrorism, believes the laws need to be eased.

“We need an urgent radical change in the law, not only so that the Spaniards without criminal records and in full use of their mental faculties can keep a weapon in their house… But so that they can use it in real life-threatening situations without fear of facing a judicial nightmare, prison sentences or even the prospect of having to pay compensation to the relatives of criminals who assaulted them,” he said.