Right to Opine

Despite “expert” security the hotels in Mumbai were an easy target for terrorists. Why is this so, when hotels have increasingly come under attack, particularly in Asia? The experts seem to be throwing their hands up.

P.R.S. Oberoi, the chairman of the Oberoi Group, said at a news conference over the weekend that he had directed his company’s hotels to step up security after the Islamabad bombing. The Oberoi banned anyone from parking in front of its hotel here for fear that a car bomb could destroy the glass wall at the front of the lobby, a risk at many hotels.

But those protections did not deter the attackers, who entered the Oberoi on foot.

Mr. Oberoi questioned whether any hotel could defend against such an assault.

Well, certainly not the Oberoi. Their “security” officers are unarmed! Now how does Mr. Oberoi expect his staff to protect his customers if they aren’t even armed? By the time the government could respond, the situation was already completely out of hand. All they could do is clean up the mess and count bodies.

There really is a simple solution: trust ordinary people. Fortunately, here in the U.S., most states do. The principle is enshrined in the Second Amendment and lived out by those of us who choose to carry arms (and further choose to live in states that allow concealed carry). A disarmed populace is nothing but a nation of victims. Would the attacks have been thwarted if there had been armed security officers and citizens? Not necessarily, of course, but it could have made a significant difference. An armed civilian may not survive such an attack, but it’s certain at this point that a couple hundred unarmed victims did not.