Czechs hand in 6,300 unlicensed weapons in gun amnesty

The peaceable Czechs don’t seem like a nation of trigger-happy gun-lovers, but there are actually 650,000 registered gun-owners in this country, and perhaps as many as another half a million who own weapons illegally - that’s a lot for a nation of 10 million people. Police say that more than 6,000 unlicensed guns have so far been handed in in an amnesty that comes to an end at midnight on Friday.

More than 6,300 pistols, rifles, shotguns - even a heavy machine gun - have been handed in to police stations across the country since February, the third gun amnesty since the country became independent in 1993 and – say police – so far the most successful. Until midnight on Friday July 31st anyone can turn up at any police station and hand in a weapon – functioning or otherwise – with no questions asked.

People who turn in unlicensed weapons are even allowed to ask for them back, as long as they have a gun license of course, and as long as the weapons meet certain conditions. Police spokeswoman Veronika Benediktová explained to Czech Television what they were:

“As long we don’t find that the gun belongs to someone else, or that it was used in a crime – or even that it was used in a misdemeanour – then, yes, that person can take steps to legalise their ownership of the weapon.”

And the police will now check that the weapon was not used anywhere in the Schengen zone of European countries, not just the Czech Republic, before handing the gun back to its owner. Those people without a gun license who just want to keep the weapon above the fireplace are also allowed to do so – provided the weapon is decommissioned first.

Police say there are some 650,000 licensed gun-owners in this country, but the total number of gun-owners could be twice that – hence this amnesty, to encourage people with unlicensed weapons to come forward.

The biggest response came from Prague, Central Bohemia and South Moravia, and police say the majority were wartime weapons, including a Webley & Scott signalling flare gun used in the Second World War, an Italian replica weapon dating from 1890, Makarov 9mm Soviet army pistols from the 50s and 60s, a 44 Magnum, and – the one that's attracted the greatest interest – an experimental Steyr revolver from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.