More Czechs acquiring weapons

The number of guns registered in Czechia exceeded one million last year, an increase of almost three percent, the Czech Press Agency reported citing police statistics. Gun license holders also increased by three percent to almost 317,000. It is not clear how people possess weapons without a license, but in 2023 the police registered 380 cases classified as “illegal arming”.

In the wake of December’s tragic shooting at the Prague Faculty of Arts, in which a lone gunman killed 14 people and injured 25, the Czech lower house moved to tighten the country’s gun law. The amendment, which is not yet in force, will introduce an online register of both guns and their owners and gun shops will be required to report purchases that they deem suspicious.