If I may make a suggestion, there is no need to apologize to anyone about the threads you start, but especially not to people who make unfounded charges about your motives. I admire your civility in response to DrunkySmurf.
As for the OP, I’m pretty much in the same boat as you. I’ve lived towns small and large, including DC in its murder capital of the US heyday, and New York City for 20 years. Never felt the need to have one.
My usual response is that I am a free man in a free country, and therefore I may own a gun for any reason I please or no reason at all.
But if you would really like to know, Google “Warren v. District of Columbia.”
It’s weird - the OP hasn’t challenged anyone’s right to own a gun, simply asked people what their rationale was. The replies are pretty defensive. Mostly it’s like playing the lottery - the odds are against it, but people do it anyway.
Honestly, most people who own a gun just mean owning a gun–which is usually a safely stored hunting weapon and not a firearm that’s ready or stored in such a way to facilitate home defense.
I’m a gun rights enthusiast, and I wouldn’t use either of the firearms I own on a home invader–they’re locked in a safe in the basement unloaded, one is a .22 that wouldn’t guarantee a stop, and the other is a 28" skeet-shooting shotgun that is too big to turn around with in the hallway. There is exactly a 0% chance they’d be useful in a home invasion unless I happened to be in the basement when the robber broke in.
That’s why I keep my kendo practice swords in my bedroom. 
I’ve seen this whole gun debate devolve down into the same situation a lot of other situations have on the board: either side doesn’t seem to give much of a shit about the other side’s opinions. Most people are unwilling to get admonished by a mod for pointing out that their opponent in the discussion is an abject moron, but the feeling is out there. Even as mildly-stated a question as this gets people pretty worked up. The best we can usually hope for in these kinds of debates is to agree to disagree, but both sides are still hoping that, in the long run, they’re proven right so they can stride forth and say “See? I told you so!”
I think the defensive replies are the result of weariness - many of the gun owners here have been dealing with “gotcha!” threads for weeks now, and it’s getting pretty tiring. And you have to notice how so many non-gun owners just HAD to come over to this thread and verbally shit all over it, even though (being non gun owners, and thus being completely unable to answer any of the OP’s original questions) they had nothing of consequence to add to it.
OP, I’m sorry your thread has been so thoroughly hijacked. It’s too bad, as it had potential.
True. I’m thinking of it from a Chicago perspective - I don’t think I’ve met someone that owned a rifle in the 25 years I’ve been here. I mostly see poorly-maintained handguns kept in homes or cars.
Need is a funny thing. Things that I might need, you might not, and vice versa. Everyone has different needs, and different perceptions of what their needs are…and frequently, disagree with other people who claim to ‘need’ something. Personally, I don’t ‘need’ to have my tongue pierced or to watch football on Sundays, yet many, many people disagree with me and claim to need those and myriad other things that I can easily do without.
Well, that’s good for you. I’ve never had my house burn down, nor have even in a very bad automobile accident, so seemingly I might not need fire insurance, a fire extinguisher or safety belts or air bags. And I know some folks who haven’t been in those situations who feel they DON’T need fire insurance or to be required to wear a seat belt or pay the added expense of safety equipment.
Most gun owners I know do keep a gun by their nightstand. And with very few exceptions, none of them have ever needed to use their gun to defend themselves. But then, I personally don’t know anyone who has had their house burn down, and very few who have been in a bad accident and saved by the safety equipment in their car, either, so not sure what that proves one way or the other.
Why do I need a gun? To be honest, in my 51 years I have never once been in a situation where I needed a gun, and chances are excellent that I will never need one in the remainder of my life (unless I were to deliberately put myself in a dangerous situation). On the other hand, I’ve never had a house fire either. So it’s a little hard to say.
So why do I own and carry a gun? A number of things put together. For one, I do live and travel through one of the worse parts of town, and someone getting robbed, assaulted or burglarized happens almost every week. I like carrying my gun because it allows me to presume that 99.9% of the folks I meet are decent peaceful people; if I should have the misfortune to run into one of the 0.1%, I’m prepared. And right now lawful gun carriers are still a small minority, but I think the world would be a better place if more middle-class people carried guns. It would be an interesting experiment to see if more guns really does mean less crime; if say over 50% of everyone you met in public was armed. Finally, on a purely personal level I simply like living up to the responsibility of owning a gun- of practicing safe handling and storage of it, of knowing the law, of proving to myself that I have what it takes.
Philosophically, I have a gun because my home is ultimately the one safe place for my family, and I want the ability to defend it and them if it comes down to it.
Practically speaking, even though I live in what you might call suburbia, my neighborhood is very close to several of the highest crime areas of Dallas*, and while not exactly common, people getting shot and killed in the apartments nearby isn’t uncommon, and neither is theft and other low-level crime. Haven’t heard a lot about home invasion, but I wouldn’t rule it out either.
I feel more comfortable with a gun in the house living where I do as a result.
*I live roughly in the notch formed by the 3 high crime areas in NE Dallas just west of 635 @ 75.
Both of these killings were between half a mile and a mile from my house in the past 4 months. Granted, both were low-life thugs getting taken out by other low-life thugs, but the fact remains that these assholes live near me.
Yes there is practical use. It saves a lot of time at the range.
And your earlier statement about the “rapid kill capability like we saw in Newtown and Aurora” is a strawman argument. there is no indication this was a factor in the shootings and the vast majority of guns fall into this argument.
If you wish to protect children, and your statement says you do, then the solution is to actively protect them and not passively try to remove the possible tools used.
In the rural county where I live there are times at night when there is only one deputy on patrol for the county. In any emergency I have to anticipate that a deputy is a half hour away, at best. In rural areas there are a few very antisocial tweakers/meth cookers, some of whom are oddly unwilling to mind their own business.
Although I don’t hunt, there are times I’ve had to shoot varmints that are obviously sick or start hanging around the house. I’ve had to shoot dogs that were chasing my cattle, or one one occasion, came after me.
Everyone I know of who lives in a rural area has guns. I would not live here without them.
I also like to target shoot on occasion, and have a very safe place to do so.
Years, dude. Years.
Define “need”, besides, what does “need” have to do with it anyway…
Okay, playing by the OP’s rules…
I live out in the rural countryside
We have 50 acres of land, it’s planted with Timothy and alfalfa hay, that is cut and baled for livestock feed
Our land also has a population of white tail deer, the occasional moose, pheasants, and other herbivores, no one in the family hunts, so these animals are safe, they seem to know and appreciate this as well…
There are also predators like black bear, coyotes, coy-dog mixes, foxes, and varmints like woodchucks and raccoons
We also have livestock, horses, sheep, a couple small pigs, and free-range chickens
We have small companion animals, cats, a couple rabbits, and two “snack sized” dogs (mini dachshund, and a longhair chihuahua (not mine, my nephews dog)
We have people boarding their horses at the stable, and my mother and sister teach a kids horsemanship clinic during the summer
Emergency responder time (fire, police, ambulance) is around 15 to 20 minutes
Dad is in his late 80’s and has been fighting major medical issues caused by criminal negligence/incompetence in his “care”, Mom is in her early sixties and is the primary caregiver for Dad, I’m there as backup and assistance to her, and to give her some semblance of a normal life and time to herself
Anyway, back on track
Our town does not have an animal control officer, dealing with animal issues is our responsibility
Just this week, there have been home invasions right down the road, this area used to be completely crime free though
It’s clear that in our situation, we are the ones responsible for our own safety, we have a backup generator to deal with the common power outages in our area, we have redundant backup heating systems, food stores set aside, water filtration and purification equipment, we grow our own food during the summer, basically, we try to be as self sufficient as possible, and for us, firearms are simply a small factor in our self sufficiency, what if the sheep get attacked by a bear, or coyote/coy dogs decide to become agressive, or foxes start attacking the chickens…
…or the rabbits start breeding like tribbles and eating all our Timothy hay
…or the zombie uprising begins…
We need a way to protect what we’ve worked so hard for, and in our case, that means firearms
…besides, they’re just plain fun as well, nothing’s better than stepping out onto the backyard range with a .22 and plinking away at steel targets like spinners and resetting flippers, no need to go to the commercial range, unless we want to shoot trap or the center fire rifles
Are you willing to tell the Aurora victims’ families, “hey, sorry you lost your loved one, but it’s a price I’m willing to pay in order to avoid slight inconvenience as I pursue my recreational activity”?
Are you willing to tell the Bielski partisans, sorry you lost your loved ones, but it’s the price I’m willing to pay because guns in the hands of citizens scares me.
Appeal to emotion.
Actually, it should be “hey, sorry you lost your loved one, but doing this won’t do a damned thing to prevent something like it happening again.”
Another “OMG we need weapons to protect us against an evil government” argument. Color me unimpressed.
That’s what the second amendment is for isn’t it?