I lived close to the city in an urban-ish suburb. Had someone try to steal my car, stole stuff off my porch, installed a home alarm system. YOu'd get up at 6 am on a sunday morning with fresh snow and there would be foot prints on the sidewalk. Would get solicitors of some kind just about every week knocking at the door.
Moved to a much more rural area...in 20 years here i"ve had 5 knocks on my door. Census taker, religion folks twice and a politician running for office once, and earlier this summer a college kid selling siding or roofing or some crap like that while they were working in the area (and I was out in the yard).
I've come back from being away to find I forgot to lock up, close the door, etc. Never an issue. Never had footprints in the snow.
Only lock my car in the driveway if money or a gun are in it - other than UPS leaving a package inside the car once it's never been touched.
A friend carries 24/7, won't go 'there' if he can't carry -hasn't been to a movie in years, a pro sports event in many many years, the beach (nj, md, etc are anti-gun) - so his kids can't go there either. He's a fireman in a ghetto kind of town (revives folks with narcan often, has been shot at on a call more than once) so that no doubt affects his mental state, so to speak.
REALITY- I've asked around and met ONE person that pulled their weapon. Nobody has yet to shoot one, let alone hit/kill a perp. I belong to a 1100 member gun club, run the cowboy shoots, am an officer in the pistol league, shoot rifle competitions and IDPA - so I run into a LOT of shooters. And cops even.
So odds are, especially if you plan a bit, EXTREMELY small you'll put yourself in a situation that you are at risk. (rule 1 is AVOID danger, right?) And say you are in a 7-11 or a bank or a mall and someone whips out a gun to rob it - are you going to intervene or hide behind the bread? If they pull a gun on you it's too late for you to draw in response. So while it's a great feeling to be armed, REALITY is it's not probably gonna do much good.
And yes, I read the NRA magazine page with the stories about folks that saved themselves and others with a gun. Most seem to be at home BTW. So move someplace safe is rule#1!
I just can't with these posts form you.
Here is the REALITY is this. Kidde sold millions of fire extinguishers last year. Most will never be used. Most people will go through their entire lives without ever experiencing a house fire of any kind. So therefore, having smoke alarms and fire extinguishers is unneeded and paranoid.
You speak to thousands of people re: if they ever used their guns for defense? Cool. I'll spot you 10,000 people. Violent crime rate in the US is 386 per 100,000 people. Shrink that down to 10,000 and you are sub 40. Now it is safe to assume that a lot of the violent crime happens in urban environments. Let's cut that violent crime rt in half. So in the 10,000 people you speak to about this, it is likely less than 20 have been a victim of violent crime. Of those 20, how many were armed at the time and could have defended themselves? PA has about a 10% rate of LTCF (CCW) for the population. I doubt many carry every day. So basically, your sampling size means almost nothing.
Move someplace safe. OK, please tell me where safe is. Over the last 20 years, as a percentage, towns with less than 10,000 people have seen a growth in violent and non violent crimes. They are still the lowest, but there has been a measurable uptick, while most urban areas have seen a measurable downturn. Urban areas are still way more violent, but the statistics hold.
I assume you have some device that predicts when and where crimes will happen. Please sell me a copy of that device, and I will never be a victim of crime.
I know, I will only go to church, those are safe.
Or I will only go to "gun free zones" because those are safe.
Or I will only frequent businesses that proudly sow "NO guns allowed" because those are safe.
Wait a minute. Bad things happen in those places as well, sometimes terrible things.
Your, and I am being extremely loose with the word here, "logic" is flawed at best.
I live in PA. I live in an area where nothing ever happens, and I carry every day, no matter where I go, and have a firearm within reach in every room in my house. Why? Because you never know when the bad thing will happen. I am not paranoid, nor a Rambo. I have no desire to EVER use my firearms to take a life.
That being said, I would rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.
