yekke and others
There are obviously inyanim of hishtadlus here
The obvious question on my philosophy that I was expecting someone to ask is why not leave my gun or knife out so my 3 year old can play with it. The answer is hishtadlus. There is also a concept that engaging in risky behavior nullifies protection from Hashem (second perek chagiga)
yekke, also you run into the obvious problem of 1 of those seven nohadite laws, so clearly Hashem wants hishtadlus
Ubiq
I own guns and use them strictly for fun (have you ever tried shooting, it’s better and cheaper then therapy). I happen to not keep them at home bc I feel that having a gun takes a person to a place of saying koach vetzem yudi, and therefore not relying on Hashem. However if my neighborhood was dangerous , then I believe it would become an issue of hishtadlus to own one.
NE
I actually apologize, bc I posted after only reading half your post, then regretted my answer. Don’t have time now, but one point. I read an article in the 90’s by a liberal democrat who was anti-gun. Then he lived through the rodney king riots and came to the conclusion that anti-gun is a nice philosophy until law and order breaks down, then we are on our own. Gun ownership is entrenched bc we started as an unregulated country (indians, outlaws etc) and every one was on their own. Sure I agree, Utopian society would be better(and I would give up my guns in a heartbeat for that society) but the other side would argue but what happens when the cops aren’t there for me . And this happens quite often. Stories (not in the main stream press) of using weapons to save yourself happen quite often. I know 2 people personally with such stories.
Which gets us back to main question
stripping away the emotion, this is a health policy decision (my field) and I will compare halachically and hashkaficaaly to the anti vax crowd if i have time
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