Gun Control, Security, National Identity: The Story of Fighting EU Law by Introducing “Right to Bear Arms“ into Czech Constitutional Order

As a reaction to terrorist attacks in Paris, EU institutions adopted a directive that in some respect tightened the gun control rules. Using the prevailing eurosceptic mood of citizens and (unexistent) threat of Muslim immigration, opponents of the directive started to fight its implementation in Czechia. Their efforts started to be supported by the government which invented “a solution“: basically an introduction of the right to bear arms through an amendment to Constitutional Law on Czech Security. It claimed the amendment would become part of Czech national identity and thus derogates the directive. Even if EU law and constitutional law experts pointed to total legal irrationality of the argument, the amendment was moving through the legislative process. My contribution will trace the process, using data from numerous interviews and internal governmental databases. It will show how constitutional deliberation could be abused by lobbyists and politicians in order to fight EU law.



Time:  WEDNESDAY JUNE 27 2018 10:45 AM - 12:15 PM
Speaker(s):   Robert Zbíral
Panel:  Panel 161