Safety and protection while working....

Howdy to all my fellow nurses. I've got a question...how do you protect yourself when you have to go into rough parts of a town or city?? I ask this because over the past several weeks there have been 4 shootings and 2 stabbings in the middle of the day and about 1/2 block from where i was working. Days that i have to go into the city it is rare to find a parking spot close to my pt's home so i usually end up walking a few blocks. I had walked right past where the stabbing occured about a half hour before it happened. There is no way i will give up my job, I LOVE my job, but i also feel that we should be allowed some type of self defense or protection when we are assigned to go into parts of the city. I don't work in the city every day and i have never had a problem with one of my patients as they are usually very appreciative for my services. It is this random violence that scares me. I'm sure that my employer doesn't allow for us to carry hand guns even if we do have a permit to carry, and i've also heard that is it now illegal to carry pepper spray....so what else could i do??? Thanks for any help.