Locked and loaded: Pro-gun discourse in Czechia

The Czech gun control opposition discourse is both locked and loaded. It is locked into the belief that the Weapons and Ammunition Law reliably separates “law-abiding” gun owners from criminals and that crimes are therefore committed only with illegally owned firearms. It is loaded with US pro-gun arguments and rhetoric, sometimes adapted to the local context, sometimes recontextualized almost verbatim. This study uses a discourse-historical approach to analyse arguments against gun control in Czechia, contextualized within the US debate. It focuses on political and gun-rights advocacy discourse during two key moments: (1) Opposition to an EU Directive restricting gun ownership, leading to a 2021 Constitutional Amendment affirming the “Right to defend one’s life or another’s even with a weapon”; (2) the 2023 mass shooting and its aftermath. Despite the countries’ differing legal, historical, and political backgrounds, several US pro‑gun arguments were recontextualized in Czech debates. The gun lobby and upcoming elections heavily influenced the Amendment’s approval, with politicians invoking terrorism fears and Euroscepticism to gain support. Post-shooting, pro-gun groups mitigated firearms’ lethality to resist stricter laws, revealing a unique rhetorical strategy in Czech gun advocacy.