Gun laws in the Czech Republic in their war for religious freedom against professional well armed and trained Catholic Crusader invaders. The word used for one type of hand held firearm used by the Hussites, , later found its way through German and French into English as the term pistol. Name of a cannon used by the Hussites, the , gave rise to the English term, "howitzer". Under common law tradition, civilians could possess firearms except artillery and insidious weapons (e.g. firearms that had appearance of other objects, etc.). First gun control laws were enacted during the early 18th century and dealt with illegal use of
Name of the Czech Republic "Czech" and "Bohemian". The Czech Republic's official formal and short names in Czech were decided at its creation after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in the so-called "Velvet Divorce" of 1993. The country is named after the Czechs (), a Slavic tribe residing in central Bohemia that subdued the surrounding tribes in the late 9th century and created the Czech/Bohemian state. The origin of the name of the tribe itself is unknown. According to legend, it comes from their leader Čech, who brought them to Bohemia. Research regards Čech as a derivative of the root "čel-" (member of the people, kinsman).