Don't own a gun. -Never have given it much thought. In the past 75 years, there has never been any occasion when I felt my life was in danger to the point where I would need a gun. Not saying it couldn't happen, but the likelihood of that is fairly remote. I've also never carried a knife other than the miniature Swiss army knife on my key chain. I've had to throw a couple of them away at the airport because I forgot to remove them ahead of time.
Negative thoughts invite negative events, IMO. If I carried a weapon, it would be to me like a constant reminder of the possibility of something bad happening.
Forty years ago, some kids (or small people) broke into the house through a tiny basement window. They were in the house long enough to gather up a few things to steal. Apparently I arrived home before they'd completed their mission and scared them off. They left what they planned to steal in the middle of the kitchen floor. A B&W TV, a sewing machine and a guitar. I secured the basement window and bought a Great Dane from a breeder. She didn't have a mean or aggressive bone in her over-sized body. She would stand on her hind legs and look over the top of a 5' fence that I installed to keep her safe and contained. Nobody ever broke into our house again. Some people even crossed the street when walking by our house.
I wish I lived in an area that I didn't worry about having a gun. Growing up in a bad part of Houston and then living in Albuquerque for several years made me very nervous. I've traveled to 30+ states for work and stayed in some sketchy areas.
I can tell you at least 7-8 situations where I either wished I had a gun or the fact that I had one stopped a bad situation. 12 years ago a group of thugs tried to rob my ex-wife and I as we left an expensive department store; I was not carrying at this time but we where able to run to my car and get away before they hit one of us with a piece of rebar; they were not intending on threatening us, they were going to hurt us or worse. They busted my car window but thankfully I was able to get away. There were 3 guys dressed in black, all carrying pieces of steel pipe or rebar, it was hard to tell. The weekend after this happen there was a lady beaten half to death with a pipe in the same parking lot; they took her purse and a $300 bracelet she just purchased. I'm assuming this was the same group of guys.
Anyway, I've been all over the world and have been to places where I felt safe and didn't worry about these things. There are plenty of safe places to live in the US, but I've always lived in big cities due to my choice of work. My parents live in the mountains of northern New Mexico, there is no crime there at all. You can leave your house unlocked and keys in your car without concern. However there is no workforce there, it's a small town that is off the beaten path.
I was robbed at knife point by some refugees in Baden-Baden Germany in 2016, a very nice place to live. It can happen anywhere I guess. When it happen the owner of the establishment I was in approached me and told me to leave immediately; apparently the refugees are protected there and me being an American it was useless to contact the authorities. He made me leave and promise never to return, like it was my fault. I did contact the Police and they took a report and told me it would be best for me not to discuss this to anyone. I left the following day for Munich instead of staying the extra 3 days I had planned. Crazy shit.