Lone gunman in Czech mass shooting had no record and slipped through cracks despite owning 8 guns

By KAREL JANICEK
Associated Press

PRAGUE (AP) — Officials say a 24-year-old student owned eight guns when he opened fire at a university building in Prague killing 14 people. The suspect had no criminal record so he didn’t attract the interest of law enforcement authorities. The Czech Republic has a liberal law on gun ownership and citizens have a right to defend themselves with a gun under a constitutional amendment approved two years ago. In the country of 10.9 million, 314,000 people had a gun license by the end of last year and together owned almost a million various weapons. Thursday’s shooting by a lone assailant was the third such incident in eight years.