On Friday 22nd March 2019, I was invited as a professional citizen by The Committee on Security to a seminar entitled “Legal regulation of weapons in the Czech Republic and related issues of ammunition production”
Thanks to the Chairman of Committee on Security, Radek Koten many representatives from different fields were invited.
However Mrs. Dana Kovaříková (the chief representative of the European Commision) was invited to give a speech during the main programme, and once again she was unable to attend.
The first speaker was Mgr. Milena Bačkovská (from The Ministry of Interior) who presented information about upcoming changes of Czech Gun Law. She gave more details about all processes and when the amendment should be sent to the House of Commons. The appeal to the European Commison with regards to the European Firearms Directive is still in process so there is no sense of urgency. The New Czech Gun Law will not be implemented before the appeal is solved.
The Director from the Department of Environmental Hazards and Environmental Damages, The Ministry of the Environment, Ing. Karel Bláha, CSc spoked about ECHA which may result in the banning of lead in ammunition. It was said that the toxicity of lead in that form is used in bullets is not an issue. The only opportunity to keep lead in the bullets is to make sure lead is put on the exception list of toxic materials published by ECHA.
RNDr. Jiří Hynek (President of Defence and Security Industry Association of the Czech Republic) spoke about the importance of the Czech weapon industry in context of internal security of the Czech Republic and informed participants about the consequences of accepting the European Firearms Directive or the lead ban could cause.
Special thanks to Radek Musil (Sellier & Bellot) who investigated all
ECHA reviews and papers. Musil reported that the ECHA report was of very poor quality and conlusions from quoted sources were misrepresented. Based on the original study which was noted in the Investigation report, he said there is no danger from the lead used in ammo production. And he also mentioned a suspicious connection between ECHA and Swedish Chemicals Agency (KEMI) which is responsible for starting this campaign.
Mgr. Pavel Černý (police ex-instructor and president of LIGA LIBE) mentioned that banning lead in ammunition could increase annual expenses for gun training more than three houndred percent.
Ing. Jakub Smetánka MPA (vice president of the LEX association) agreed with the gentlemen and lady and presented very interesting statistics about the lead used in ammo and the lack of substitutions. There is no substitue available for .22LR and lead bullets for shotguns.
If you are interested in Gun laws of the Czech Republic go there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_the_Czech_Republic