Czech Republic’s Firearms Examination

In the Czech Republic, citizens have a constitutional right to bear arms; they can also carry a concealed firearm for the purpose of self-defense. By European standards, the Czech gun laws are quite permissive. But there is one major hurdle that citizens must overcome: they must prove that they are competent to carry a gun.

The firearms examination is obligatory for anyone who wants a firearm, “including hunters, collectors, even someone inheriting a shotgun from a grandfather.” The examination has thirty multiple choice questions, and in order to receive the hardest-to-get concealed firearm license, an applicant can miss no more than one question. The failure rate for those seeking a firearms license is 40 percent.

Fifteen- and sixteen-year-olds in the Czech Republic can obtain hunting or sport licenses, but they also must be enrolled in a school where hunting is part of their curriculum or be a member of a sport shooting association. Registrants must be twenty-one years old for all other firearms licenses. In addition, they cannot have a criminal record, have a record of excessively consuming alcohol or drugs; they must be medically qualified, and present no danger to internal order or security. Once purchased, guns must be stored in safe places.

The 2021 population of the Czech Republic was 10.51 million; in 2020, there were a total of five homicides attributed to firearms. In North Carolina, with a population of 10.55 million, there were 1,839 such murders in 2021; in Georgia (population 10.79 million), there were 2,200 murders; in Michigan (population 10.05 million), there were 1,554 murders attributed to firearms.