Who is responsible for MY SAFETY?
In no particular order:
Law enforcement
Various government agencies
Companies that sell you products (they're responsible for making reasonably safe products)
Your community
Your family and friends
You
That said:
The threat of crime is VASTLY exaggerated. Despite the higher crime rates in the US than most OECD nations, unless you live in a high-crime neighborhood, crime is not in fact a major threat. Even in rural areas, crime is quite low -- you're much more likely to be harmed or killed by some kind of accident, than by a stranger accosting you inside your home.
Crime rates have been falling steadily for
decades. You are safer today than you were in 1990 -- and unless you lived in a high-crime neighborhood, you were fairly safe then too.
You don't need a gun to protect yourself. Millions of Americans do not own a gun, and are not victims of crime. Millions of Americans
do own a gun, and are victims of crime. There are a variety of ways of enhancing your safety, ranging from avoiding high-crime areas, to putting an alarm system in your home, to running away from an encounter (and yes, that works).
Gun ownership also decreases your safety, in several ways. Suicide is often an act of impulse; having a gun in the house will not
cause someone to become suicidal, but if they have access to a gun, a) they are more likely to act on the impulse, and b) more likely to succeed.
Homicide is in many cases an impulse, rather than premeditated. When a conflict escalates, people will grab whatever is available -- knife, bat, blunt object, or... gun. Similar to suicide, if a gun is available, a) it can get used, turning an assault into a homicide and b) guns are quite effective, also likely to turn an assault into a death.
There are lots of other issues, ranging from people exaggerating self-defense with guns by orders of magnitude (the inflated claims are often poorly collected, conflate aggressive brandishing with self-defense, or exaggerate encounters), to ordinary citizens not being trained in self-defense, to higher crime rates associated with regions that have a "culture of honor" (which is not tamped down by putting a gun on everyone's hip).
Even police officers, who are typically trained and experienced in dealing with violent suspects, wind up killing an unacceptably high number of unarmed or otherwise innocent civilians.
Does YOUR carrying a gun around legally make ME safe? I'm not so sure. Last November, a woman reported a man walking around with a few cans of gas and a "big" "scary" rifle. The 911 operator responded: “Well, it is an open carry state so he can have a weapon with him or walking around with it.” The man then opened fire on random people, killing two women and an Iraq war veteran. Did the 911 operator give the right response?
911 recordings: Woman called twice about man with gun in Colorado Springs shooting spree | FOX31 Denver
Last but not least: A vigilante society is not a civilized society. It's a hallmark of lawlessness and fear. Those don't strike me as good things, or things we should encourage.
