I actually agree with your statement about providing an option. In some self defense situations, guns can be a good option, and in other situations guns may be of no practical value. Those folks who have a "one size fits all" (i.e. gun ownership solves everything) attitude towards self defense have a serious lack of understanding of the nature of fighting and street violence. This is akin to fighting a war with just air power assets. And again, WHERE in any of my previous posts (ok, I know that one of them was hard to read!) did I say that you should not be allowed to own a gun? If anything, I encouraged some people to get more guns!!! The main point that I wanted to make is if you want to put all of your self defense eggs into one basket, then you better hope that those eggs are not going to crack in a high pressure situation! This is accomplished through regular and intense training. This way you will have a better idea of what you are truly capable of. Anything less than this is deluding yourself. Honestly, I don't know why some of you people find this concept to be so offensive (maybe it struck a nerve!)!!! I'm really not impressed by people who SAY that they would do such and such in a given self defense situation, before they have actually DEMONSTRATED the technique in question (under high pressure conditions). TALK IS CHEAP!!! Perhaps the following will illustrate my point:

Hypothetical situation at XYZ airline:

Droog: Hello, I just finished sim training and I'm here for my checkride.
Checkairman: Hello, my name is Captain Dick Jackman, and I'll be giving you the checkride today. It will just be the usual drill. We'll do the oral, and then hop into the sim and do a V1 cut, troubleshoot the emergency , and then do a single engine ILS.
Droog: Well Captain Jackman, you should know that my sim instructor demonstrated V1 cuts and single engine approaches to me. Also, I'm a very safe pilot, and I always fly like my family is on board. So I assure you that I would indeed safely perform these maneuvers in a real life situation.
Checkairman: I'm glad to hear that, Droog. Let's not even waste our time going to the sim. I'll just go ahead and issue you your SIC type rating now!