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ABCNEWS.com : Men Take Moscow Audience Hostage
Armed men entered a crowded Moscow theater Wednesday and took the audience captive, the Federal Security Service said.
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a boy who was freed said the armed men were from the Caucasus region, spoke in one of the languages of southern Russia and demanded an end to Russia's war against Chechnya.
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Interfax said some children had been allowed to leave the theater as well as Muslims.
This is an excellent case for an armed citizenry. Out of 700 people, you can figure probably a lowball estimate of 150 grown men (I'm figuring families of 4 here; 700/4 = 175 and round down a bit).
What if only 10% of those men were armed? (I'm discounting armed women here too). 15 armed audience members could offer a pretty substantial defense against a handful (estimated 20) of attackers, especially considering the police and military presence outside the theater. There are naturally logistical problems that would prevent them from coordinating their efforts or even knowing about each other until the resistance had started, but even 15 individual men each taking his best shot would be better than 700 or so people sitting like helpless sheep at the mercy of criminals.
This is one of the reasons I carry a gun and one of the reasons you should, too.