Just to add: There are of course many stories and cases of bad police conduct in the U.S and in many incidents, police investigate poorly or react badly to situations, but overall, the general trend is that if you report a serious crime, it will receive a reasonably professional and often very strong investigative response. It will at least be generally incomparably better than how things would be in Mexico if the same were to occur, in this country where only 2% yes, 2% of murders (never mind lesser crimes) are ever solved by police.... People who complain about shitty police service in the United States are right to do so and point it out, but many of them have never seen just how bad it usually is in a country like Mexico.

What's more, basic self defense is practically forbidden. One can sniff their nose at U.S gun laws all they want but at least in most places a basic right to self defense when the police don't arrive on time and one's life is in danger exists. In Mexico, we have an absolutely perverse situation in which police barely respond in meaningful ways, crime is rampant, criminals are heavily armed and easily obtain weapons, but normal civilians risk going to prison if they should carry even non-lethal weapons for self defense, or use a gun in their home to protect themselves against and assault. Why do the police arrest them more often? Because such people are much easier pickings than a real criminal and it's an opportunity for safe extortion. This is very common, and grotesque.

U.S self defense laws are much better as an alternative. Europeans disdain such gun laws, but at least in most European countries where self-defense with weapons is often essentially forbidden, at least the justice system and policing are both functional. In Mexico they emphatically are not, but with the same sorts of highly restrictive laws against civilians who take defense into their own hands. I challenge anyone to defend such a legal landscape.