I tend to stay out of these discussions. But what the hell? It's the Holiday season!
I find it hard to imagine a PP reader currently resident in the US rationalizing the "carrying a weapon makes me safer" strategy within the context of the other risks we all face on a daily basis. The simple act of driving ANY car kills 4-times as many people each year. How many of us enjoy those spirited drives in the country we so love to document on this site? And, how many drive their p-cars home after a beer or two with the boys?
A gun wouldn't have made me any safer pumping gas while the DC snipers were on the loose. Nor would it have helped my cousin 15 years ago, shot point blank and killed AFTER complying with the thieve's demand to hand over his wallet.
Funny thing with risk analysis - you have to look at the problem from both angles. The solution can be more dangerous than the original threat.
How often do we read of a child being killed while playing with a parent's gun? Or a spouse being killed by their drunk "better half"? What percentage of shooting victims (good and bad guys) killed within single family residences in the US each year are shot by their own weapon or one owned by a member of their immediate family? I don't know, but would like to see that number.
I have a friend that discovered her first husband was having an affair. She told me the story years later. Something in the news that day had us talking about gun control. She was for it. Why? "I was hurt and very angry", she said. "If I'd had a gun available, I would have killed him".
FWIW...