I have more experience than most with blackbears, having bowhunted them for forty years, and guided for close to 20 years... in that time I have had many close encounters, too many to relate here... many of these would be considered "frightening" or "terrifying" by many people... and yet, I do not consider black bears to be "dangerous" game. Of course black bears "can" be dangerous, they have the tools necessary to enact serious and swift damage, and bear attacks do happen and deaths have occurred... but as a species, black bears are disinclined to act out aggression toward humans with the intention to physically engage, not in the manner that is DNA coded into Grizzlies or buffalo. Whitetail deer have attacked and killed humans, as have elk and moose... black bears are animals that deserve respect, but not an unreasoned fear. Statistically speaking, you are perfectly safe forraying into the black bears habitat. Educating yourself on bear behaviour and biology is a respectful and worthwhile undertaking, it will help you navigate a bear encounter.
Having studied fish and wildlife biology and working briefly in the field, one of my undertakings was a study of bear attacks across North America. Over the course of my research, several commonalities became obvious in reading through the accounts of these attacks; first, how rare attacks actually are, given the amount of time bears and humans live in close proximity; second, how common it was for the attacks to be perpetrated by a bear that was injured and unable to forage naturally, many of the attacking bears were in poor physical condition, which indicates that they were acting "out of the norm;" and thirdly how poorly the humans involved in the incident managed their behaviour, often doing things to incite and attack...
There are cases of unprovoked attacks by seemingly predatory bears, usually larger dominant boars, but these are a small fraction of the small fraction of negative bear/human interactions.
So, IMO, if carrying a gun in the wilderness gives you a sense of comfort, or as most of us here on CGN, you just like guns, then by all means, carry and shoot... but the attitudes toward black bears fostered in the continuous litany of "bear defense" threads, really does the bears and ourselves a disservice in heightening an "irrational fear," rather than a "healthy respect."
But spend enough time in the woods and there is a good chance you will want to have a gun handy at one point.
