The crying woman on the 911 call for Trayvon Martin.

[magical thyme]

2. the police can't get there in time

It's all very well and good to say that we should rely on the police for personal defense. But the fact is that unless you are very lucky, the odds are they can't get there in time to save you.

The boy with the dog would have stood little to no chance, especially if he was black because Zimmerman would have certainly shot him too (assuming it was a hate crime, which I do).

If the woman had been armed, having somebody pointing a gun at the two of them, she would not have definitely been killed too. That can be just what it takes to throw the aggressor off balance and stop him in his tracks.

Not too long ago, somebody on a neighboring street held a burglar at gunpoint until the police arrived. Given a burglar climbing through a window into your rural home, that seems like a better solution than running for your life in the dark, with your barking dogs probably accidentally giving their locations away and getting shot, so the burglar can take what he wants, maybe shoot you anyway, and leave long before the police arrive.