LOL! The trouble is, the "local mall" is 30 miles away for me. That's why I said (post #50 this thread) my "backpacking" these days consists of trying to "work up" to a 2-mile hike down to Marsh Creek and back a couple of times a week.
Even at that, when I'm on those hikes, I'm carrying for a couple of reasons. First because I'm hiking alongside a country road, and there just might be miscreants of one sort or another on that road - just like there might be miscreants at the "local mall." And second, as I've mentioned before, there are several farms and ranches between here and Marsh Creek that have large, territorial farm and ranch dogs that will run a hundred yards down someone's driveway just to yell at me for "trespassing" on "their sections" of a public road. Lastly, we actually do have mountain lions in this part of the state, and while we seldom see one, I'm pretty sure more of
them have seen
me.
BTW, as I've also mentioned before, I've never had to shoot one of those farm and ranch dogs that pester me on my walks. They always back off when I show them my great big hiking staff. But if that didn't work, I also carry pepper spray. My 38 Special or 9mm is a "last resort" kind of thing. I wouldn't want to kill someone's dog just because it didn't understand property lines. I
like dogs, and they're only doing their jobs when they yell at me for being what they think is too close to their people's property.