Emotional Support Firearm

A lot of the sentiment I have been seeing/hearing/reading is that CCW's are seen as unnecessary and 'negative choice'. I have been weighting the pros/cons of doing so since 2022, but now that we are here, it feels more necessary than not. Patriot front just did a demo in front of a closed city hall yesterday(mere miles from me), but the state I live in is filled with those sympathetic to their views.

Im just wondering what everyone else's thoughts are on the act of CCW, in this day and age, being vilified/demeaned in all the ways it is. Personally, I don't feel safer with it on my person than without it: I have had a few encounters since carrying where I have been gald it was there after the fact; and a few encounters where I wasn't carrying that I wish I would have been, after the fact.

Im just wanting to hear other opinions/ideas about CCW; the good, the bad, and especially the ugly.