People believe they need to protect themselves because they know that the police won’t get there in time.
Isn’t this true in any normal circumstance. When someone illegally and forcefully enters your home to burglerize it you think the police are going to arrive “just in the nick of time”?
I was thinking more of people roaming the streets and harming people that are just walking down the street, idling at an intersection in a car, riding the mass transit system. Like the misnamed “flash mobs”.
But yes, people are looking to protect themselves more at home and on the streets. And citizens who are concealed carriers are on the uprise.