Carrying a pistol does indeed make you safer. Not everyone can disarm and armed assailant, not everyone can kill or severally wound a man or animal with only his/her hands and feet. The pistol is the great equalizer. It turns a would-be victim into a survivor, or hero. Since we carry pistols (admittedly I rarely do), we have a chance to survive from being robbed, killed, jumped, raped, etc....
I know several people who have been jumped by more than 3 other people because they were walking to their car from a friend's house at night, in a not so nice part of town. Some of them were robbed, but all were beaten senselessly. I also know a guy who was shot in the leg at a gas station because he would not give the mugger his last 20 dollars.
I live in a nice part of town, but anytime I am leaving my community, I try to have either the Walther PPQ .40 m2 on my hip or my Springfield loaded model 1911 .45 on my hip. I will survive