We did not work to get to the top of the food chain for nothing. Bears should be afraid of us, not the other way around. People should not have to let nanny state and the animals dictate to me how to live their life.
Reasonable prudence is one thing. Changing your life to accommodate animals that can be easily dealt with is another.
Simply changing habits for a day or two is reasonable prudence.
Walking outside, expecting to encounter a bear and then killing it simply because you can is insane. He wasn't going out to fetch water or hunt for food. He was refilling a bird feeder. Skipping that is not a life changing event.
The best survival tool we have rests above our shoulders. Not in a holster. And I'm a gun nut. But he showed poor judgement as it concerns his own survival. If his shot had missed the bear, he'd be dead and we'd be calling him an old fool.