Fare enough DT, but I am not telling you to not carry a weapon, just to keep learning and try to have an open mind prior to making a decision. Which you may or may not be doing...I can't tell via the Internet. There is at least one good study that strongly suggests that most would be better served by pepper spray, and none that say the opposite (for example the BYU study in Journal of Wildlife Managment 2008. Which I posted a link to about a year ago on this site). But most people haven't slept with their weapon.