Your average criminal is a shoplifter or dime bag dope dealer. Your average violent criminal is a gang member directing his violence toward a rival gang member. So what motivates white bread America to carry guns around? Seems to me the reasons would be either wanting to emulate gang members, or confront them. Neither one is a good option. I can see no other logical reason, unless you have received some prior credible threat. Carrying a gun around will probably lead to somebody eventually getting hurt. Plus it is really bad karma. Think about it. If you ever think you have to use it, you'll probably be wrong, but still use it, in which case, the best outcome is you shoot somebody and the worst is you get shot. That's a big lose-lose situation. Just ask anyone who has shot another person.
All the rest of the justifications for carrying are hype and nonsense and disconnected from any semblance of reality.