Interesting question... I would like to think I would defend my gear, but I don't know how well I could. The closest I have ever come to it is the time I was shooting in East St. Louis. It was my first time to Missouri, I had been looking at a college and my mother had rode out with me (I'm from Maryland) and what I didn't know was that East St. Louis is the most dangerous part of town, even the people who live in St. Louis won't go down there, but it has the best view of the Arch, so we stopped. I walked up to the river front with my camera, took a few pics and took a minute to look around and realized that I did not want to be down there in the dark anymore. I hustled my mother back to the car and I was just a bit concerned by the looks I was getting, so I just threw my gear in the back and we got out of there. I haven't been back there yet to take any other pics, but when I do, I'll be sure to have at least pepper spray and I'll do a much better job of hiding my camara and other gear... and if I can talk anyone into going with me, I won't go alone. It's always best to be safe.