The idea of personal self-defense still exists in the US: many of my friends have concealed carry permits, and I applied for one myself a month ago (it takes around 3 months to be issued in Nevada). Of course the next question is, would I draw and use a weapon, especially after the emphasis placed by my instructor on all the legal and personal safety reasons NOT to use my firearm.

That said, I barely avoided being in the Japanese embassy in Lima when it was stormed by Shining Path guerrillas in 1997. Several of my colleagues were there, though, and recalled seeing many of the guests in attendance (mostly diplomats or aid personnel) ditching their personal weapons in the bushes rather than using them against the handful of terrorists who had scaled the back wall. If only 3-4 of the armed guests had successfully taken down a terrorist in the first moments it would probably have stopped the attack immediately. Perhaps with a little loss of innocent life, but as it is the embassy was held for several months and finally stormed by Peruvian armed forces (who managed to kill all the terrorists without loss of innocent life.)

As for why the Indian policemen didn’t shoot back, I was stationed in India in 1965-67, and in those days (and presumably today) policemen were not routinely issued ammunition. F