“European Union governments should agree tighter gun control laws on June 10 in the wake of Islamist shooting attacks in France and Belgium, despite opposition from some states which say they will hurt only law-abiding enthusiasts. Since the attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine in January 2015 by men armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles apparently bought in central Europe, France has pushed for a crackdown. It redoubled its efforts after the attacks in Paris on Nov. 13. Prague was among states seeking to water down the original proposals to ensure hunters, sports shooters, collectors and museums can hold weapons, including semi-automatics capable of firing many rounds per minute. Switzerland, which is outside the EU but cooperates on such issues, along with Finland and others also sought exemptions for civilian national defence groups. The Czech Republic has liberal gun regulation by European standards, with about 775,000 legal guns and rifles in the country of 10.6 million people. Despite the fact that the original proposal was diluted, gun owners in the Czech Republic are still angry with the looming changes.

“People who stage attacks do not use legally held weapons, they use black market ones, primarily from the Balkans”, said Jan Vurbs, 30, firing his two rifles at a forest shooting range near Visnova, 50 km south of Prague. “We have to meet a number of rules on storing weapons, safe boxes, every weapon is registered and police know exactly what we have at home”, he said. “Bans for civilians and terrorist threats are two unconnected issues”. The proposal, which would then go to the European Parliament, would for the first time introduce EU-wide rules on deactivated firearms which France argues are often to easy to restore to lethal functioning order or other types of guns, such as signal and starter's pistols, that can be converted. While the Brussels executive originally proposed a complete ban on civilian possession of semiautomatic firearms capable of firing high number of rounds, multiple exceptions have since been included to also cover museums and target shooters.

The Visnova range outside of Prague allows people to fire legally held rifles such as those that Vurbs owns: a sporting version of a Czech military assault rifle, and one used by the British army in the 1960s and 1970s. The rifles are semiautomatic, meaning they fire a single bullet per pull of the trigger and not a burst of bullets, but at least one of them would be banned under the new rules. Czech Interior Minister Josef Chovanec said on Thursday the changes could affect 40,000 firearms in the Czech Republic. “We do not have a problem with the directive as a whole, but we will want to rework it so it does not amount to disarming Czech citizens”, Chovanec said”. – David W. Cerny, Jan Lopatka and Gabriela Baczynska via Reuters



Jan Vurbs shoots his rifle at a forest shooting range near the village of Visnova, Czech Republic, June 9, 2016. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)





Jan Vurbs prepares to shoot at a forest shooting range near the village of Visnova, Czech Republic, June 9, 2016. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)





A shooting instructor walks through a forest shooting range near the village of Visnova, Czech Republic, June 9, 2016. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)





Jan Vurbs shoots his pistol at a forest shooting range near the village of Visnova, Czech Republic, June 9, 2016. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)





Jan Vurbs shoots his rifle at a forest shooting range near the village of Visnova, Czech Republic, June 9, 2016. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)





Jan Vurbs shoots his pistol at a forest shooting range near the village of Visnova, Czech Republic, June 9, 2016. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)





A newly assembled pistol is placed on a workbench in Ceska Zbrojovka weapons factory in Uhersky Brod, Czech Republic, May 27, 2016. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)





A worker cleans a gun in the Ceska Zbrojovka weapons factory in Uhersky Brod, Czech Republic, May 27, 2016. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)





A worker fires a newly assembled rifle in the Ceska Zbrojovka weapons factory in Uhersky Brod, Czech Republic, May 27, 2016. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)





A worker engraves a pistol in the Ceska Zbrojovka weapons factory in Uhersky Brod, Czech Republic, May 27, 2016. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)





Newly assembled rifles are placed on a stand in the Ceska Zbrojovka weapons factory in Uhersky Brod, Czech Republic, May 27, 2016. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)





Jan Vurbs prepares to shoot his two rifles at a forest shooting range near the village of Visnova, Czech Republic, June 9, 2016. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)





A salesman shows an assault rifle at Ceska Zbrojovka weapons factory shop in Prague, Czech Republic, May 31, 2016. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)





A woman shoots her rifle at a forest shooting range near the village of Visnova, Czech Republic, June 9, 2016. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)





Bullets and two rifles lie on a table at a forest shooting range near the village of Visnova, Czech Republic, June 9, 2016. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)