"Opinion polls conducted in Russia have shown that the majority of Russians have the psychology of a victim"

Here is a very interesting article in Pravda concerning the legalization of gun ownership in Russia:

The legalization of weapons in Russia would be able to strike a powerful blow on the criminal world. A criminal will probably think twice before he decides to attack this or that person because the would-be victim of the attack may have a gun too.

Rafail Sholomovich, a spokesman for the Civil Arms association, says that people do not usually harm each other in the majority of self-defense incidents, if a victim wields a gun: it usually ends with simple demonstration of weapons. The specialist said that there are about five million guns registered in Russia.

Lots of interesting stuff here: how the majority of Russians have a victim mindset that is hard to overcome, how the government could find a new source of taxation if gun ownership were more...er...liberalized, that many Russians simply are not familiar with firearms, etc. None of which addresses the basic human right of self defense.

And Makarovs and TTs (are they talking about old TT-33 type guns?) are going for anywhere from $500 to $3000! On the black market, of course.