it may be that i came from an entirely reversed tradition, here in italy only a few had any weapon at all an the majority came from a police force background or a hunter background (and a criminal background), legally acquiring a weapon is a long costly and frustrating experience.

but know what?

there are really, really, really few incident where a robber shoot some victim (mafia gang ws mafia gang is another chapter entirely)

when some jeweler started to respond pointing a pistol to the robber the number of armed robbery with serious incident largely increased

i'm sure that if i will be subject to a robbery i'll certainly like to have a gun to defend myself, but if every "customer" start to carry weapon the criminals will certainly start to shoot first and ask what's the bulge in your jacket is later...