A very common site on roads in aforementioned areas are pick-up trucks with rifle racks. Said racks have rifles loaded and ready. In addition said occupants of said truck often have handguns loaded and ready under the seats.
Yet crime is negligible. Why do you suppose that is?
Yeah, part of the equation is that inhabitants of said areas have traditional values and traditional morals. They may be dirt poor but would no more even think of robbing and killing you than a street thug in one of your inner cities would think of getting a minimum wage job at McDonald's and working his way through trade school.
The other part of that equation is that armed citizens are so prevalent that there is a high chance that even attempting to rob or kill someone could end with fatal results for the perps. It is much easier to hunt prey in the nearest big city where guns are frowned upon.
Tru dat!
I actually think it would be a good thing if more honest citizens packed. Never have said otherwise.
On this thread I have merely pointed out that as the percentage of the population packing increases, at some point this will result in problems, including more firearms accidents and "rage" type incidents. Does anyone really dispute this?
Let's assume 1% of the population is packing now. Increase this to 50% and simply as a result of numbers one would expect 50x the number of such incidents.
This leaves aside the, IMO, extremely relevant point of the caliber/quality of those packing. It seems to me indisputable that 50% of the population packing would include a much higher percentage that are incompetent and/or irresponsible than the present elite 1%.