abaya

Yup. Situational awareness at all times goes a long way. I'd say that given the care I take when I'm anywhere alone by myself (walking in town, etc), as opposed to the carelessness with which I drive, for example... I'm far more likely to be injured in a car accident than in a violent crime. The only place where situational awareness does not really apply, is when I'm in Beirut, Lebanon and there is a constant potential for random car bombs to go off in my immediate vicinity and kill me. But, we take our chances. No gun is going to protect you from that shit.

I've also taken personal defense classes, and I'm always preparing an escape plan in my head, almost everywhere I go (even at home) in case there is an intruder. No way in fuck that I would ever stick around to defend my property, EVER. That's one more reason to not buy a lot of useless, expensive shit... everything in our apartment is used and fairly unattractive, so I can't see what anyone would want. Maybe the laptops? But we back up the most important stuff, so feel free to take them.

We'll see if my perspective changes when we have kids... depending on where we live, I can see an alarm system or something being a good idea.

I will never own, let alone carry, a gun.

__________________
And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran