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IMHO their main duty is to come collect the bodies after the fact. It may seem wrong, but consider this: if the law did say the police are obliged to protect every individual, they would be sued for every successful crime. That would justify them in creating an oppressive police presence in the name of "protection". The argument would be "if we're repsonsible for your safety 24 by 7, then we must have these powers to do our job".
Self-defense is both the right and responsibility of the individual. The cops cannot be everywhere all the time unless you want to live in a police state. It's each person's moral duty to ensure the safety of their own household. If anything goes down, I will call 911 right after I arm myself. If a clear and present danger develops, it's my job to meet it. My tool of choice for this job is a gun. So if the cops don't get there in time to abort the threat, then as I said, their job is to haul the perp's body to the morgue.
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