Well if you watched the alien movies. Ripley carried guns and it helped her didn't it?

The aliens of course...I'd rather be safe than sorry, wouldn't you?

"Ever since the first moon rise that was looked upon by modern humans, man has thought of visiting the stars. Likewise, ever since Flash Gordon and his ray gun hit the comic books, man has looked to arming its space travelers. US Astronauts have long carried survival knives for the past fifty years from the Mercury program all the way through the current Shuttle program. The Soviet space program decided that both a survival knife and a firearm would be needed. This is because it was not uncommon for cosmonauts to wait lengthy periods of time in the middle of nowhere on the desolate Soviet steppe where wolves and other predators were very common. The Soviets have long carried guns in space. They even armed at least one space station with a 23mm automatic cannon and to this day have a firearm aboard the International Space Station." Source and further information: http://modern-war.suite101.com/article.cfm/russian_guns_in_space "Originally, guns began being packed on Soyuz flights after a far off-course landing in March 1965 led to stories of encounters with wolves (or in some versions, a very hungry bear). Cosmonauts loved recounting these stories, even though official accounts later made it clear that some wolves had only been spotted by a rescue helicopter a mile or two from the downed capsule, and chased off from the air — the cosmonauts never even saw them. But good survival stories are hard to resist." Source and further information: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23131359/

for two reasons: to fight if necessary or for a painless death.

not true !