You certainly have a need to protect yourself, depending on where you live. In Chicago its a given you need protection. As far as being safer with than without, I totally disagree with your Unicorn ideas that the police can protect you and yours. In other civilized nations you have the same problems, except they use knives and cars mores than guns.  The problems in Europe with muslim rapes, terrorism and robberies are coming here if we continue the same old policies of the last 20 years.