I defend what is mine (quite effectively) without firearms.

There are also too many people who think they need a gun to defend their
homes against snowball throwing children or who think that they need to
prove themselves to the person in the next car who has "disrespected
them".

I have been in various gun shops and have seen people who rather
obviously don't even know how to hold the the things which they "need to
have" to be able to "protect themselves" (and how much they need to argue
with the people they want to "protect" that this protection is
necessary).

I might feel differently if these people also took functional anger
management courses (and then passed an evaluation), properly locked their
weapons whenever they were not at a target range and it could be proven
that they stayed away from these weapons when they had been drinking or
were very tired.

I work in City Hall and know many of the police who work in the police
evidence room. They all agree that the majority of people who own guns
are not mature (or even sane) enough to realistically have them.

An important rule for people who insist on owning a gun...

You can't pull show a weapon in an attempt to "convince" the other person
that "they really don't want to do that".
YOUR WEAPON DOES NOT CLEAR YOUR HOLSTER UNTIL THE INSTANT YOU ARE GOING
TO FIRE IT.
The only people who can hold a weapon in their hand without immediately
using it are police or other security forces WHO ARE ACTING IN A POSITION
OF AUTHORITY.
Even more important is that YOU DON'T FIRE A WEAPON UNLESS THERE IS
ABSOLUTELY NO OTHER SANE AND RATIONAL ALTERNATIVE.
A person calling you names is not sufficient reason! A person who is
making verbal threats is not sufficient reason! (you should try to record
these threats and give a copy of the recording to the police)
IF YOU, AND THOSE IN YOUR CARE, CAN SAFELY LEAVE THE VICINITY (WITHOUT
BEING INJURED) AND/OR CALL 911 FOR ASSISTANCE YOU DO NOT HAVE LEGAL
REASON TO FIRE.

If you MUST defend yourself and/or others from physical harm, you are
legally allowed to do what is necessary to remove the current threat AND
NO MORE. Once you have rendered the person who has attacked you unable to
immediately continue his/her assault, you MUST cease your actions, and
should call 911 for assistance and for medical attention for your
attacker. Firing a few more shots "to make sure" is not legal, though you
may reasonably be expected to keep your weapon ready (but without having
your finger on the trigger) in case of further trouble, either from your
attacked or from someone else (keeping the pistol in your hand pointed in
a direction which does not directly threaten anyone, with your finger
resting on the outside of the trigger guard is sufficient).