On gun ownership

From my experience criminals confront you, threaten you with the possibility of violence and the fear of the repercussions make you comply. Both taking the path of least resistance, victim wants to continue his/her life without getting fucked up and the perpetrator wants money or whatever without having to put in any effort (otherwise they would get a job..). They won't escalate things anymore than is necessary. And since it's effective, since it works the criminal continues on that path, it's far easier to look tough and intimidate people to get what you want when there is nothing to fear in return.

Most people don't want to kill other people. They just want something the other people have. A gun is an equalizer: an imposing man threatening a granny to get her purse is far less likely to do so if the granny can kill or permanently injure the man on the spot. A rapist, mugger or whatever can't force their way if the victim can drop them without having years extensive training against a bigger opponent. And the very thing that the perpetrator uses, which is fear, can cause their own death. The fear of ones own safety makes the victim pull the trigger, so that disincentivizes the perpetrator a great deal.

And even if the perpetrator has a weapon, it's still a level playing field. Guns take away most of the advantages the perpetrator has. No one wants to get to shot, and fear of the victim and other people carrying a weapon is great deterrent. Even if you try a surprise attack, other people might see it and shoot you. The possibility of getting shot vs nothing to fear at all.

Without a gun the granny loses, but with a gun on the victim or on both of them the odds are 50/50 the bigger opponent is as likely to lose as anyone else. The risk of losing just isn't worth it. There's not many scenarios where the criminal can derive a benefit if the victim has a lethal force amplifier. Even if the criminals have the numbers they can only get shot, walk away or shoot the victim, and shooting the victim has very serious repercussions as well.

The underlying mentality of a criminal is: "I can do this because I can, and you can't do anything about it; I'm taking it and there's no one stopping me. You have to fear me because of what I can do, and I have nothing to fear from you. You can't make me adhere to the rules, I do whatever I want. I don't care about your rules or laws."

You see how guns on other people might keep that mentality in check? It's about having the ability to effectively bite back, even some prey animals in the animal kingdom have the ability to deter predators. That's what this is about: keeping predation in check, to level the playing field so the weak don't have to fall prey to predatory people.

TL;DR: Causing uncertainty is the key, with guns the criminals have to be afraid too, they have to consider the fact that"Maybe that bitch is crazier than me."