A firearm is not a good solution to anything. It's a tool of last resort. If i believe I, or some one I love is going to die. At that point, i don't care if i can beat the military, or if im labeled a cop killer because the alternative is Im dead. This isn't about being a hero, this isn't about saving my neighborhood or my country, this isn't about beating the military. Owning and carrying a firearm is about giving yourself one last option when all else fails. When you know you will die without it, may as well have the chance to do something.
Firearms also work as a deterrent. They are a show of force. Without it, the government has a monopoly on violence. Cops, ICE, the military, whoever. When they are they only ones with the ability to do that, we will always be under their thumb.
I'm not saying we should be resorting to violence unless there is absolutely no other choice. The very last thing i want is a shootout or fight with any government agency. I will not win that fight. But I would rather die standing and fighting then die on my knees.
I strongly believe that it is everyone's responsibility to do their best to protect themselves and those they love. Go exercise. Go learn martial arts. go learn how to shoot. Not because you plan to use violence, but so when violence is used on you, you are not helpless.
I'm not going to point out the flaws in your statistics. Someone else already did that.
A single bike lane doesn't do much to make an area more accessible to bicycles. Over time, with enough bike lanes and other bicycle friendly infrastructure, it makes a huge impact.
Our citys are designed very poorly. Our roads are designed very poorly. Our laws are designed very poorly. This all takes time to fix, especially when the people trying to fix things are fighting against the lawyers and lap dogs of multibillion dollar corporations.
I understand your frustration. You want better traffic flow and feel like this change made it worse. You are probably right in the short term, but on a macro scale, the only way to fix the problem is to rebuild from the ground up to make your area less car reliant. Less car use is better in pretty much every way.