CH ...
... robberies and assaults. Unless you have a crystal ball you have no clue when this is going to happen. Walking along a nice woods path and be attacked but a pack of dogs... You want to take the chance of flubbing a "rack". Try turning, running and racking one handed some time...it is hard enough two. Sit in a car, draw and rack while dringing... Just last week RGS posted that video of the car jacking...you want to rack while that is going down...
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You are right, no one can accurately predict such events. There are, however, possibilities and probabilities, historical data, behavior patterns and other indicators one can use to good advantage to greatly reduce the probability of an unwanted event.
It is somewhat like hunting in reverse. When hunting you go where you think the animals are. In the case of two-legged animals though, you go where you think they will not be or at least at times where their presence isn't likely and you don't engage in behavior that either suggests you are or in fact makes you an easy target.
Like hunting, there are no guarantees. I could hunt antelope in my back yard but don't because in 25 years we've only seen antelope there once and they were passing through at a high rate of speed. Nevertheless I've killed two antelope less than a mile north of the house. (These days I find it easier and more rewarding to hunt antelope in Wyoming where the animals are plentiful and I can get multiple licenses.) Elk range to within a mile of our home but in those same 25 years we've never seen them from the house - hunting them from the back deck would likely be a fruitless endeavor but by hunting elsewhere in Colorado I've taken 10 elk since the year 2000.
When the Franktown fire occurred a couple years ago a neighbor's roof caught fire and the flames came to within 300 yards of our place. We didn't worry too much about our home because we are outside the trees and keep the grass near the house mowed down and fairly well watered, plus it is surrounded on three sides by asphalt and concrete. That's not to say our house couldn't burn from such a fire but it isn't likely, either. I worry more about burglars, which is why our valuables are locked up in a heavy-duty and very heavy gun safe and at night we have a loaded gun by the bed. Burglars aren't likely though, because our home is too exposed. Any burglar that isn't a complete half-wit would pick one of our neighbor's homes first, where the trees and/or terrain would hide their activities.
Nothing people do can guarantee they won't be a target or a victim but there is much they can do to minimize the probability of that happening.
