I live on 120 acres in the mountains of British Columbia. We have grizzly, black bears, coyotes, cougars, and wolves coming through here. Everyone who lives in this kind of an environment owns at least one, usually more, firearms. Confrontations with these animals is not likely to occur at any given time, but on the rare occasions when it happens, having a weapon is essential.
Then there is the more dangerous predator: a hostile huma. Where I live it would take 40 minutes, minimum, for a police officer to arrive on a scene. That’s assuming you are at a place where you can call.
Much the same conditions prevail in the national parks.
For those who abhor guns, I can understand the stress she or he might feel knowing that someone else nearby is armed. There are of course no guarantees. However, knowledge that anyone in the vicinity might be armed is a strong deterrent to hostile and violent behavior. To borrow from Robert A. Heinlin (hope I have the spelling right there), “An armed society is a polite society.”