has traveled widely throughout the world, on occasion by myself, and who has no fear of living or being alone.
I have never - ever - felt the need to have a gun of any kind for protection and I have lived in both urban and rural areas. Unless I were prepared to practice shooting it at a target range on a regular basis, a gun would certainly be of no practical use to me, and would likely pose more of a danger in the sense that any determined individual would likely wrest it away from me and use it against me. Besides, one must keep a gun locked up so that children and others cannot get to it. By the time you unlock it to confront a home invader, it's likely too late. It's more a nuisance than anything else.
At one time, I did carry pepper spray after one instance where I was subjected to a half-hearted but still traumatizing assault. But that lasted only for a couple years, especially after I realized that taking self-defense classes, paying very careful attention to my surroundings, and carrying my keys clenched between my fingers in my fist would give me as much of an advantage as pepper spray would. Besides, none of the others were illegal and I can always carry keys through airline security.
Those who feel insecure in their homes are better off getting a dog (even a cat - I once had a Manx cat who could face down Dobermans and German shepherds - she was very protective of her turf) and keeping a can of pepper (yes, the spice) in their nightstand.
In the final analysis, however, individuals know their own needs, fears, and strengths. I have no problem at all with responsible gun owners. In fact, I have several in my own family. But not one owns - or feels the need to own - an assault rifle. Their reaction to nutcases who feel the need to own them is that assault rifles are for wusses who can't shoot for sh**, so they hedge their bets by getting guns that will spray bullets everywhere.
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