When it comes to graduate education, I left to Finland where universities do not charge fees (all university education is free),
It's not free, it's paid for by the Finnish taxpayers. Yeah, it's a neat loophole, but it's pretty douchey for you to go to Finland, get your advanced degree, then go back to your home country and leave the Finnish taxpayers holding the bill for it all.
You're perfectly allowed to defend yourself/family. A gun isn't the only means of doing so.
Except in the real world, a 100 lb woman cannot beat up a 250 lb man and people cannot dodge bullets or catch knives in their teeth. You watch too many movies. The reality is that a gun is the most effective method of defending yourself, especially for people who are physically weaker.
Variables don't; constants aren't.