Czech gov't approves amendment on arms possession law

PRAGUE, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Czech government on Wednesday approved a draft amendment of the law on arms possession, aiming to conform with a new EU directive shortening the length of arms holders' permits and introducing two new arms categories.

The bill extends the current two arms categories to include another two, applying to legally possessed types of weapons whose holders are not currently bound to have them officially registered, such as historical, deactivated and gas weapons.

The number of bullets or cartridges that can be kept with weapons will also be curbed. The draft amendment will be submitted to Czech parliament for approval before it takes effect.

Until mid-2016, Czech Republic had about 301,000 arms permit holders with 819,000 weapons. So far, it is not clear how many weapons will have to be newly registered in Czech, but the number has been estimated at hundreds of thousands.

The EU directive is opposed by the Czech Republic which filed a lawsuit against it in 2017. Enditem