Yes, like most of the folks who read this hobby board I have a CCW. (Shooting hobbyists are a distinct minority in the CCW world however.) CCW is not just a right, it is a civic responsibility and the more people who carry, the safer is the society.
In middle America you can't go out without meeting some quiet middle aged man or dowdy housewife with a plain vanilla personality, a mortgage and a CCW. These are the people who make for a peacable society.
The safer areas of the country are the ones where more of the children are trained to firearms proficiency and nearly every family is armed. Although this would seem counter intuitive it is true.
Contrariwise in Russia, northern Ireland, central Africa, Washington DC and other pestholes you have a situation where none of the common citizens carry, so the streets are ruled by thugs. This is irremedial for the simple fact that guns are a low tech item, easily produced with primitive tools. There is no way to effectively ban them so any society which tries artificially selects for the worst elements controlling them.
It is a shock to many naive persons when they find their friends or relations not only carry, but carry consistantly out of a sense of civic responsibility. That is an unfortunate effect of a cultural mass hysteria. I still remember an esteemed friend, a psychiatrist, who told me he found out to his horror...CITIZENS could buy machine guns. He didn't want to listen to the talk of fingerprints, waiting periods nor expensive tax stamps, for him the weapon was the fear.
http://www.JPFO.org/ragingagainstselfdefense.htm
http://www.a-human-right.com/