Bataclan. Ten Years Later.
What Civilians Still Haven’t Learned
Ten years ago today, coordinated Islamist attackers moved across Paris with rifles, suicide vests, and a simple plan. They hit restaurants, a stadium, and a concert hall.
They killed 130 people and injured more than 400. Most of the dead were inside the Bataclan theatre. Many were young and never had a chance to fight back.
A decade later, people still talk about the attackers, the politics, the failures in intelligence, the borders, and the ideology.
All of that matters, but none of it helps the person who finds themself in a crowded space with gunfire erupting.
There are civilian lessons from Bataclan that have not been absorbed.
You can argue that Europe did not learn them.
You can argue that the United States has not learned them either.
These lessons are not hard, and they are not tactical secrets.
They are simple, uncomfortable truths about what happens when a committed assault team targets unarmed civilians in a dense venue.
This is what matters for the prepared citizen.
Most people froze. The ones who moved early lived.
When the first shots rang out inside the theatre, many attendees assumed it was fireworks or part of the show.
Even after people began falling, many were locked in place. Others waited for someone else to decide what to do. That delay was deadly.
Most mass attacks have a similar pattern.
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