government had been required by thernFirst Republic, the heir to the Austro-rnHungarian Empire. Hunters were registeredrnwith the local police at Prague.rnFirearms prohibition was an essentialrnaspect of the repressive Nazi and Communistrnregimes from the Nazi occupationrnin 1939 through the Velvet Revolutionrnof 1989. Two world wars leftrnfirearms all over Europe. Do Czechsrnobey all the laws, or have unregisteredrnguns been secreted under the Nazis,rnCommunists, and even today’s Republic?rnAs victims of Russian and Germanrnaggression, the Czechs have becomerncrafty people. One Czech told me withrna coy look that he did not know of anyonernwho would violate a gun regulation.rnRight.rnDriving me back to Brno, my hostsrntalked of the problems of the CzechrnRepublic but expressed optimism for itsrnfuture: the lost economic security ofrnthe old socialist regime did not equalrnthe true economic development usheredrnin bv the advent of the free market. Myrnown observations give a bird’s-eye viewrnof the Czech people in transition: creakyrnelevators in old buildings, people hardrnat work repairing the old and buildingrnthe new, good red wine that costs $1.60rna bottle, vegetables and puppets for salernin the market, beautiful historic castlesrnand great buildings that were neverrnbombed in World War II, landscapernscarred by irresponsible socialist industrialrnpolicies, beautiful forested areasrnpeppered with quaint villages, old dilapidatedrntrain cars with no working toilets,rnand modern train cars with all the conveniences.rnHere is the transition fromrncommunism to free enterprise by a peoplernwho never believed in the former.rnA taxi driver in Prague told me in Germanrnas I got out on the main boulevardrnto beware of robbers. I responded thatrnwe have plenty of them in America, too.rnPrivate crime has replaced governmentrncrime; that’s progress, because individualsrnare never as capable as tyrannies ofrnkilling large numbers of innocents. Ifrnsome Czechs are buying pistols for protectionrnagainst thugs, they will still havernthem if (or is it when?) the Russian thugsrneventually come back. Pistols will notrnstop tanks, but offer one more means ofrnresistance.rnAs my Ceska Air flight climbed overrnPrague, I wondered how long this smallrncountry’s newfound freedoms wouldrnlast. The historic aggressors have beenrnRussian and German expansionists. Thernbest guarantee of freedom against therndangers they pose was and still is thernright to keep and bear arms.rnStephen P. Halbrook is an attorney inrnFairfax, Virginia, and author of ThatrnEvery Man Be Armed: The Evolutionrnof a Constitutional Right.rnLetter From Serbia,rnPart IIrnby Rajko DolecekrnThe Prospects for PeacernI returned to the Federal Republic ofrnYugoslavia (FRY) last May and July andrnnoticed that Serbia had changed dramaticallyrnsince my last visits there in latern1993. The financial reforms of a 75-rnyear-old Serbian university professor, Mr.rnDragoslav Avramovic, who has solidrnbanking experiences in Yugoslavia andrnabroad, had stemmed the soaring inflationrnrate almost overnight. Prices hadrnstabilized if not dropped; agriculturalrnand industrial production had increased,rnthe budget was balanced, and incomes,rneven pensions, had risen. The hard currencyrnreserves markedly increased. Yugoslavrncitizens could even exchange theirrndinars for German marks one to one (uprnto 50 dinars). To avoid the printing ofrnadditional dinars to pay for the good croprn(the present reserves of food could lastrnfor almost two years), Avramovic hadrnminted large quantities of gold coins,rnthe ducats, with gold from Serbianrnmines. They were accepted with enthusiasm.rnInstead of minting only 100,000rnas originally planned, a half-millionrnof them were to be available soon.rnUnemployment was still runningrnaround 30 to 40 percent in the FRY,rnlargely because sanctions had cut offrnthe country’s trade links. But some townsrnwere prospering, such as Vranje, inrnsouthern Serbia. Over half of its 65,000rninhabitants were employed. The giantrnYUMCO textile plant, one of the largestrnin Europe, had 13,000 employees; itrnimported some 10,000 tons of cottonrnlast year alone. The SIMPO furniturernmanufacturer had about 6,000 workers,rnand the shoe manufacturers at Kostanarnmake some five million pairs of shoes arnyear; the tobacco factory and the leadrnand zinc mines were thriving, too. Thesernventures make up the backbone of prosperousrnVranje, whose bustiing mayor Mr.rnTomic is very proud of his town. The famousrnSerbian author Bora Stankovic wasrnborn there, and the town was alive withrncharacters from his plays. For the spiritualrnheritage of one millennium, it wasrnexciting to visit the orthodox monasteryrnSt. Prohor Pcinjski near Vranje, to stayrnthere overnight in the old hostel, to en-rnSt. Prohor Pcinjski Monastery near VranjernJANUARY 1995/35rnrnrn