Czech President: “Citizens Should Arm Themselves”

Reflecting a startling change of heart, Czech Republic President Miloš Zeman (shown), once opposed to private civilian ownership of firearms for self-defense, told local Czech newspaper Blesk: “Earlier I spoke often about limiting the ability [of citizens] to have large quantities of weapons. But after the terrorist attacks [in France], I have changed the idea.” He is now pushing the Czech parliament to adopt a new law that would allow citizens to purchase, keep, and use firearms as necessary.

 

Zeman is also calling for a wall to be built along the country’s borders (the country is bordered by Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and Poland), and the expedited deportation of “failed asylum seekers.”

 

Zeman is hardly alone in his observations. Jonathan Miller, an elected council member in the French village of Caux, wrote that the attack in Nice has “shaken France to the brink of a terrifying escalation” and that France “may be on the edge of something resembling a civil war.” When Miller was asked why the membership in a local gun club quadrupled since Nice, he responded, “They’re getting ready for a war.” He added: “I talk to a lot of people at every level of French society and I am detecting a change of mood. And the mood is turning nasty … [I am] no longer taking for granted that they will put up with this much longer.”

 

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