One time DH told me that he had packed one after we got home. I didn't know about it. I forget why he felt the need to do that. We carry pepper spray in the trailer but I have never felt the need to get it out. I had about a 15 minute training session by a police officer in using the spray. He said it doesn't work on raccoons, but it does work on bears.
The only time I've been afraid while traveling was once when we were going over Highway 108 in the Sierras...(I think, it was one of those REALLY steep, narrow highways). We were in the car and carrying all of our tent camping stuff, loaded to the max, going really slow with all the windows open and the a/c off, and we kept hearing gunshots. We decided to pull over because the brakes were getting really hot and smelly. While we were pulled over, this weird guy who was kind of jumpy pulled into the turnout and started talking to us. He was creepy. I made the kids get down behind the car between him & us and pretended like I was looking at the tires. DH was friendly with him (and he's a pretty big guy) and after a while he went away. I know people like to shoot guns off once in a while (our neighbor does it every 6 months or so) but this guy was just acting so weird that he made me very suspicious.
I used to shoot when I was a kid at camp (and I was a pretty good shot
), and I'm not afraid of guns. I keep thinking that I should buy a nice rifle and take the kids to the shooting range and have them taught how to properly handle a firearm.