Security and liberty, we're again reminded, rest on a foundation of force. We can offload responsibility to protective laws and institutions, but they may fail. Ukrainians found to their horror that it fell to them as individuals to defend their country and themselves when a nation entrusted to guarantee their independence instead proved to be a predatory threat. In similar but (thankfully) less bloody fashion, Americans learned that police empowered to defend them can also be abusive. That doesn't mean we give up on protective institutions, but we need to have the ability and willingness to defend ourselves.
"We will give weapons to anyone who wants to defend the country," Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted on February 24 as Ukraine's armed forces struggled against Russian invaders. While he referred to military weapons, Ukrainians also stripped gun stores in anticipation of the invasion. "Gun shops have sold out of some weapons, such as AR-10 and AR-15 assault rifles," noted The Guardian. Additionally, Ukrainians volunteered for military service and assembled Molotov cocktails. It's genuinely moving to watch people take on such responsibility. But it's also evidence of failed guarantees embodied in the 1994 Budapest Memorandum.
