Packing Heat on the Quint Family Hike

Before moving to Alaska, I spent quite a bit of time in the Catskill mountains of New York State. Just a few hours north of New York City, anyone can easily find themselves smack in the middle of black bear country.  Car loads of hipsters, kids and assorted urbanites stumble upon these bears quite regularly. And you know what happens then? Absolutely nothing.
After the hipsters take their pictures, the disinterested bear continues on its merry way to the garbage dumpster. Even the local children's camp I once frequented, tolerates black bears as weekly visitors-- without much hoopla, fear or any type of arsenal.
Now forward to Alaska. They say everything is bigger, scarier and wilder out here. But the black bears I've seen (and in 11 years that's a lot)---look about the same as those in NY. The most obvious difference is their disinterest (i.e. conditioning) to hang out at the local garbage dumpsters. Yet, some people totally fear the Alaskan black bear. Either it is a case of mistaken identity--having no clue that they are not the larger, rarer, aggressive Grizzlies.. Or maybe all that dumpster diving back east makes bears happier???
Whatever it is, fear of bears produces a peeve of mine:...the Alaskan family visibly packing all sorts of hand guns, rifles and what have you on a short hike (no, not a hunting trip). Stumbling upon "gun family" on the trail is so much more unnerving to me than any type of encounter with a bear.
Are they trigger happy? Why couldn't they just pack bear spray instead ?( recommended to be more effective anyway). What are these people really up to? Not to mention the knee jerk reaction to shoot at whatever large thing may be wiggling in the bushes.
I'm sure one could easily defend the "packing heat" family as simply good folks that do understand the behaviors of an angry Grizzly bear (and I'm not down playing the Grizzly here--- they do wreck havoc every year on the Alaskan trails).
But the truth of the matter is, if you are not comfortable with your "bear aware" training  (and a good can of bear spray)--why are you bringing your family to that particular park or trail in the first place?
If there was some urban neighborhood that I felt was so scary that I needed to pack two visible handguns just for a stroll ---would I even go??
Sharing the trails and parks with the Alaskan wilderness is a blessing for all of us. The bears do not invite us into our home, we just go anyway. But uninvited guests don't necessarily have the right to kill the occupants who are just "standing their ground" or minding their own business.