Even highly trained people like police know that introducing a gun into a situation that may not have otherwise had one is more of a liability than a safety measure. That's the reason many prison guards, who often walk among inmates, do not carry sidearms, rather non-lethal weapons or none at all. Even if, by some statistical miracle, you were able to safely and effectively draw your weapon and shoot an assailant, without injury to bystanders or your self, you may still be vulnerable to a host of legal actions that would encumber you way beyond the [perceived] inconvenience of having simply taked a safer route. Some would respond with the notion that the criminals are always armed so why shouldn't you be equally armed? Well, rather than 1) taking a knife to a gunfight or, 2) taking a gun to a gunfight, I'd rather just not go to a gun fight at all. What about that? Seems to me that only the police or military would, knowingly, go into such a situation and, when they do, they do it with a wealth of training and resources that are unavailable to the rest of us--and it's still dangerous for them. Bottom line: don't go get yourself killed or in trouble by acting as a Constitutional warrior, do the smart thing and avoid that area: choose a better route and/or safer time of day for your new commute.