[TheHound]

You are probably going to be inundated, with advice. I would recommend a 9mm Bereta, hand gun. I own no weapons, I have shot one of those. It was very accurate, it made alot of noise, but did not kick at all. I was knocking off cans at 75 yards.

[bluetone006]

I lost my house in Andrew and we didn't have any civil authority for 6 bloody weeks. Our neighborhood formed our own vigilante group. Scary huh. For home defense I also recommend a shotgun, probably a 20 gauge. I have seen shotguns used under stress and I do not recommend the use of a pump gun unless you are extremely proficient. Get a semi-auto. The Saiga shotguns out of Russia, if properly set up are cheap, have a large ammo capacity, and are reliable. Use #4 shot. For concealed carry I would recommend 9mm or .40 unless you are wearing very light clothing. For that I will carry a .380 but I can hit what I aim at. Glock, Sig Sauer, HK are great choices - but I haven't been keeping up with what is new the last few years. Get trained and then train regularly. Obey the laws. Only use deadly force as a last resort. Don't be a victim. Cheers