[QUOTE=Stranger On A Train]
And we could all live an equally sheltered life, I think society would be better off. … Most of the people I’ve known who have been in real combat have a very biased and frankly paranoid view of the world around them, and don’t (or more probably can’t) just switch off. (One fellow, a very former Marine sniper who spent some time in the late 'Sixties over there in the Bad Place, refused to drink coffee because it would make his nerves unsteady, “and you never know when you might need to take that 500 yard shot at someone.” Uh-huh.)
There are, however, many people whose location or vocation puts them in a credible amount of danger, and not everyone can live in a low crime neighborhood or have a job that doesn’t having them carrying sums of cash at oh-dark-hundred. I can certainly understand and sympathize with the desire to have available some means of responding to an armed threat. (Just handing over money or giving an aggressor what he wants not always sufficient for self-protection even if you don’t find such a philosophy repugnant, and I’ve been less than impressed with my experiences with “nonlethal” weapons like pepper spray, and those experiences have been mirrored by many peace officers who, of course, carry sidearms themselves.)
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Yes, a certain percentage of combat veterans never get over it, but among WWII veterans at least, that percentage was small. For example, author Kurt Vonnegut was one who never really got over his experience from what I understand. WWII was not at all like Korea, Vietnam, or Iraq in that the whole country was mobilized and everyone (well a large fraction) felt a part of it. In Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq the combat troops are isolated while the nation’s population goes about its normal peacetime affairs.
And for people with a legitimate need for a gun, such as carrying large amounts of cash, gun permits are available. However, I suspect a gun is on a part and a small part of the protection. Varying the times of deposit, hiring a security guard or even asking the beat cop to be around when you take the money to the night deposit drop box are others.
However, in this thread we are speaking to someone who thinks buying a gun will protect him from a camput shooter or other random act of violence. Entirely different circumstances than those you mention.