The gun owner example isn't a great one. one of the first rules of gun ownership is to never tell anyone. It's a valuable and deadly asset which gains value from people NOT knowing that you have it.
I'm not sure 'never tell anyone' is a first rule, although I do agree that in many situations one could gain more value from other not knowing you have it.
There are some situations in which sharing possession of such a tool and the knowledge of using one could be beneficial.
Although most of the time, in most situations one would gain advantage in having defensive ability without broadcasting it to the world, and as the parent comment eluded to, one often gets by / through social interactions just fine, and due to some group's disdain for such, often gets by better, without advertising such. imho.
The difference is that if you go out of your way to tell you have mixer, you are weirdo. If you go out of your way to tell you have a gun, then you are someone who brags about having gun unnecessary, which means weirdo too, but in different way.