No offense taken, Paul.
Do I really need to carry a gun? Not really. I have been involved in only one incident in my life where carrying a gun would have helped me - and I didn't have one: I was attacked on my own property by two German Shepherds.
My neighborhood? We've had a car thief run into our drive while he was being pursued by the police on foot, after he and his cronies bailed out of the car (they collared him there, Jan and I saw it: it really scared her, because she was sitting on our porch when it happened).
The lock on our driveway gate was broken accidentally by police, when they ran into it while chasing someone (we weren't there, my neighbor saw it happen: the police denied it at first but later replaced the lock).
Jan and I drove up one night after dark to find our alley gate damaged. I went out back to check, gun in hand (NOT the little .22: something WAAY heavier!) and found no one, but found a blood trail, and damage to the fence on the other side.
The police told us afterwards that someone had been shot outside of our property, and had hopped our fence to get away, and hopped again to get out.
I've never been robbed or assaulted in my life: but yes, trouble does happen around here:
so as long as I can carry a gun legally, I'm going to.
Jim