In the Czech lands, the civilian possession of weapons is historically inextricably linked to collective and individual protection, as evidenced by its enshrinement for these purposes in the Treaty of St.Wenceslas (1517) and the Regulation on Handguns (1524). The plethora of compact and subcompact self-defence pistols produced during the First Republic shows that this tradition has endured for more than half a millennium. It was only broken by Nazi and Communist... (GunPolicy.org)