One unnamed agent said: “Most secret agents of the DGSE are under diplomatic cover in embassies. It’s not James Bond. We don’t have a Walther PPK in our pocket. The odd vodka martini is possible.

This is true of pretty much every intelligence service. If you’re an intelligence officer working from an embassy, your number one job is to collect information. You don’t want to get caught, but you absolutely do not want to get caught while carrying a firearm.

Back in the Cold War days, there was a story passed around about a woman from the US embassy in Poland who went to a meeting on the docks with members of the Solidarity movement. A Zil limo pulled up, some guys hopped out, and they proceeded to beat the crap out of her, then drove away. The Polish government lamented the criminal thugs who would do such a thing. If she had been armed, she would not have left the docks.

There’s very few problems you can get into that a gun would not make worse.