COLUMN ONE : It’s ‘Make My Day’ in Moscow : Against a backdrop of economic and social disarray, crime is surging in Russia. Citizens are arming themselves with a cornucopia of weaponry--mostly illegal.

Alyosha didn’t like the looks of the five men loafing around the train station, brazenly sizing up his car. Leaping from the driver’s seat, he warned them to clear out. They didn’t. So he whipped a gas-spraying pistol from his belt and began counting to five.

Four of the men scattered; the fifth, too intoxicated to run, lurched away. Calmly, Alyosha took aim and pumped a jet of burning, temporarily paralyzing tear gas at the drunk’s stomach.

“Getting a gun is one of the first necessities to prove yourself in life, like a TV, a leather jacket and a nice car,” said Alyosha, 20, a self-described money launderer who owns a German-made gas gun, an American pistol and a Russian automatic. “With all this street crime, you feel much calmer and more secure if you carry a gun with you.”

While Alyosha’s yearly income of $45,000 sets him apart as a member of the moneyed elite, his insistence on the need to carry a gun for self-defense resonates throughout Russian society. Terrified by skyrocketing crime, fed up with the government’s perceived inability to protect them, hundreds of thousands of Russians now walk the streets carrying semiautomatic guns, pistols that shoot gas jets and pocket-size canisters that spray tear, nerve and skin gas.

Although owning unregistered firearms and gas weapons is illegal, frightened citizens ranging from high school students to white-haired pensioners say they would rather be caught red-handed by the police than find themselves empty-handed during an assault.

“These are very alarming times,” said Vladimir, 65, a World War II veteran who recently dusted off his two army-issue pistols and began carrying them. “If someone attacks me, I can no longer show them my fist,” he added, gesturing at his bony hand. “But now I’ll always have a pistol with me, just in case.”

An estimated 30 million unregistered firearms have fallen into private hands in the Commonwealth of Independent States--1 million of them in Moscow alone, according to recent press reports.

A profitable underground network imports anywhere from 10,000 to 100,000 foreign-made weapons into Moscow each month for distribution around the country, said Alyosha, who has close ties with gunrunners. (Like most weapon owners interviewed, he asked that his full name not be disclosed.)

The weapons black market also thrives on looting from soldiers and Interior Ministry troops. In the most recent incident, early this month, a gang of thugs with submachine guns attacked a Russian air defense unit in Georgia and stole 68 pistols, the news service Itar-Tass reported. The army lost 2,000 firearms in the first two months of 1992 alone, the newspaper Rabochaya Tribuna has reported.

“It’s not at all difficult to get weapons, if you have connections to criminal circles--and these days, almost everyone does,” said Yuri Khramov, a Moscow City Council deputy who carries in his suit pocket a gas canister dramatically painted with jungle camouflage.

Those who own guns--and those who want them--say they fear assault by the increasingly desperate underclass: hungry beggars huddled in underground walkways, drunken men loafing outside liquor stores, ragtag Gypsy families swarming around tourist attractions.

The socialist safety net that for decades had ensured each citizen a living wage disintegrated along with the Soviet Union last year, and inflation and unemployment are driving thousands into poverty--and sometimes, crime. At the same time, the ability of enterprising business people to make huge amounts of money and the need of ordinary shoppers to carry big sums of cash have encouraged holdup men and muggers.

Overall crime, violent crime and crimes involving weapons all increased at least 30% during the first few months of 1992, according to the Russian Interior Ministry. As a result, 65% of Russian adults report that they feel unsafe on their own streets, a recent poll by the Institute of Social and Political Studies found. In another survey, 62% said they would like to own a gun.

“Weapons are already in bad hands--the hands of criminals. Now they must also be in good hands--those of the common people,” said Igor, a 5-foot-8, 265-pound taxi driver who, despite his physical presence, carries a gas pistol in a small leather bag on his belt.

Voicing a common concern, he added, “You can’t rely on the police anymore, so it’s absolutely necessary to have a gun to defend yourself and your family.”

Speaking in their own defense, the police complain that they are suffering more and more casualties from gun-wielding criminals. But faced with soaring crime, they actually face more and more restrictions on what they can do to combat it--since they no longer operate without restraints, as they once did in the totalitarian Soviet society.

“A policeman understands perfectly well why more and more people are carrying guns,” said Yuri Feofanov, a legal commentator at Russia’s leading newspaper, Izvestia. “But he cannot approve, knowing that such social acceptance allows criminals to arm themselves so much more easily and for these weapons to be used against the police themselves. . . . So, on the face of it, a ‘crime prevention’ measure contributes to more crime, and the police are caught between approval and disapproval.”

The proliferation of illegal firearms conjures up nightmares of vigilante justice for many Muscovites. They grimly predict that the street battles and drive-by shootings that plague urban America may soon terrorize Russian cities, once comparatively calm.

“A culture of weapons use is growing,” said Alexander Tsopov, a Moscow City Council deputy on the committee for law, order and human rights. “It takes days to solve a dispute in court, so people find it a lot faster to take care of problems by taking out their guns.”

Sergei, an unemployed 24-year-old who earns money helping friends build unspecified “businesses,” recalled how four rowdy drunks taunted him and a friend as they walked home late one night with 400,000 rubles (more than $2,500) in their pockets. Two quick shots with gas pistols ended the confrontation before it got out of hand, Sergei said.

“It didn’t feel very good to use the gun--in fact, it was pretty unpleasant,” said Sergei, whose thin face and tousled brown hair make him look like a high school student. “A normal person would never shoot at another human being.”

Even so, he added decisively, “I would absolutely use my pistol again, if I had to.” In fact, he sees no alternative. “What else can you do?” he asked with a shrug.

Most illegal imports come from Germany or Poland, arriving by train through the Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. Weapons also come from strife-torn republics like Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Russia has only informal border checks with former Soviet republics, and if a zealous customs official asks questions, “100 bucks or even several thousand rubles will explain everything,” said Alyosha, the money launderer.

Russian Interior Ministry official Vladimir Dyekin agreed, saying, “Although everyone’s declared their independence, so far there aren’t strict borders with most of the former republics.”

Once the weapons are in Russia, gunrunners sell them in small batches to middlemen, who in turn offer them to wealthy friends with access to hard currency. When all the markups and bribes are added, a gas pistol that costs $35 in Germany sells for at least $135 in Moscow.

Firearms range from $350 to $800, depending on the caliber--a fortune compared with the average monthly wage, which is equivalent to about $20.

Hand-held gas canisters, especially popular among women and students, are easier to obtain. Priced at 650 to 800 rubles, or roughly $5, they are sold openly in kiosks stocked with imported goods ranging from cigarette lighters to lacy underwear.

While most adults say they want to own weapons purely for self-defense, owning guns has become a status symbol of sorts for Moscow’s restless youth.

“It makes you feel superior to own a gun--it’s good for boasting,” said Lena Chebotorova, 19, a rock musician. Her arsenal now includes a gas pistol, a gas canister and an air gun loaded with sharp metal-tipped darts, which she practices shooting at a battered target set up next to her bed.

The concern about illegal arms has grown so much over the past year that Russian officials, recognizing legitimate security concerns, have taken steps to arm law-abiding businesses. The Russian Parliament recently voted to allow banks, joint ventures and large firms to keep guns on their property for self-defense.

Since the law took effect July 1, the Moscow Police Department has received a flood of requests for licenses. Deputy Police Chief Ivan Sedov estimates that tens of thousands of companies will soon own registered firearms. Farmers also recently received permission to buy hunting rifles to ward off would-be crop thieves. Until now, only registered members of hunting groups could own rifles and shotguns, and pistols were flatly prohibited.

Yet some worry that even weapons purchased legally for self-defense will ultimately cause trouble rather than offer protection.

“Not everyone can control themselves,” said Vicheslav Abdurin, 35, a lieutenant colonel in the Russian army. “If they have a weapon, they can’t always stop themselves from shooting.”

Paraphrasing Russian playwright Anton Chekhov as she hefted her dart gun in one hand and gas pistol in the other, aspiring musician Chebotorova spoke knowingly about the dangers of possessing weapons: “If you have a gun in the first act, it’s going to go off before the end of the show.”