After Latest Terrorist Attack, Russians Want to Carry Weapons But Only Serving Officers Should have That Right, Popov Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Mar. 28 – After a terrorist attack like the one at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow, it is no surprise that some Russians believe that they must be granted the right to carry weapons in public, convinced that if they have that right, that will prevent such outrages or at least allow potential victims to defend themselves.

            They are now pressing legislators to give them this right, Moskovsky komsomolets commentator Dmitry Popov says; but on reflection, many can see that doing this would be a big mistake (mk.ru/social/2024/03/27/terakt-v-krokuse-vyzval-u-vlasti-voprosy-o-vooruzhenii-naseleniya.html).

            Russians go to concerts to relax and often drink toward that end, and the idea that drunken people with guns will do more good than harm is absurd. Instead, Popov suggests, there are two reasonable steps that the Russian authorities should take in order to prevent yet more outrages.

            On the one hand, Russian lawmakers should require operators of public venues to use metal detectors to ensure that no one with a weapon can get in. And on the other, they should give Russian military officers “the right to freely carry a service pistol,” a right they had in Soviet times “until the end of the 1960s.”

            “In a country at war,” Popov continues, “the sight of a military office with a service weapon evokes in any normal citizen a legitimate feeling of reliability, support and security; and at the same time, it spreads fear among the enemies of the people.” It is thus an entirely “useful idea” and “we need to implement it.”