I'm an Army brat, so I spent most of the first 22 years of my life near military bases and around guys with guns.

My takeaways:

1) Handguns serve a different purpose than rifles or similar. Conflating the two is common, in America, to confuse the conversation.

2) The most protective soldiers I knew usually refused to keep firearms in homes with young children in them.

3) Men shouldn't generally be arming women, particularly with handguns or military-style weapons. Women shouldn't be martial and no woman should ever be housed in a place so dangerous that she needs to be strapped to go the grocery store. (My opinion is more split on women hunting or shooting for sport.)

4) If I'm physically attacked, I'm more likely to be aided by a German guy riding by on his bicycle, than an Ami macho in a gigantic truck with a rifle rack. You are free to guess why I think this is.

5) I feel extremely safe in Bavaria and have extensive freedom of movement, even at night in urban places. Because Bavaria men do their damn job and don't tell me to buy a taser or stay home and hide.

I'm not buying a pistol, bitch. You're the pistol.