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Good points. Those three points are of course overly constrained. In our state, you can't legally issue deadly force unless you are confronted with an equal force, or are in "fear of your life, or the lives of your family (occupants)". Strangely enough, it is legal to shoot through a door, window, or exterior wall of a dwelling IF an exterior breech is imminent and you are in fear of your life. I don't think it's been tried in court yet though. I have very close contact with large components of our LEO community here (on account of my profession) and they've all told me the same thing...which is...after a shooting, the standard line is, "I was in fear of my life, and the lives of my family!" Say no more, and no less...irrespective of whether the perp is armed or NOT. Also, most of these have also told me that a teenaged daughter in the house is an "ace in the hole" if you end up killing a B&E perp. I wouldn't use that as an excuse for killing an intruder though. She'd probably kill him first. She has better reflexes that I do, better eyesight, and keeps an AR-15 where it's easy to reach and quick to load! I guess in my house it's like the humorous sign I've seen before, "Forget the dog. Beware of the kids!" :-)

Having said all that, I don't relish the thought of killing somebody in my home. Anybody who says they "look forward to it" has a problem (I'm not saying that you do!). I've seen people die before, and it rarely happens like in the movies. They bleed, and puke, defecate, urinate, and cry for their mothers while they're dying and bleeding out. If I have to, I will. But our goal as an armed household is to see that everybody simply stays "safe"....the perp included. Now if the perp wants to have a shoot out, then we're going to oblige. But we honestly don't look forward to it and would be happy to just have "zombies" stay AWAY and save them and us the trouble, mess, and aggravation. :-)

Your approach sounds effective, and from your own account, it IS. But you have a realistic approach. It's the people who believe that noise and "effect" alone will frighten badguys away who are potentially setting themselves up for a big disappointment. These people don't seriously consider the "what if" it doesn't frighten them away. It's akin to the thought that brandishing a weapon will simply cause somebody to run away. But if they themselves draw a weapon as well, then the dynamics of the situation change completely and the advantage is lost.

I'm glad everybody stayed safe in your encounter two nights ago!

“I was in fear of my life, and the lives of my family!” won’t stand up in court if the corpse on the floor has an empty stomach and a mouth full of peanut butter and jelly, especially if it matches the brand your wife has in the cabinet.

I think in most cases the average working man is not going to be the victim of an armed robbery/hit team. They are much more like to be the target of a drug addict looking for your prescription pills, cash and jewelry.

From what I hear, it can get very expensive if you kill someone and the cops, all of them, aren’t 100 percent on your side. Make sure the evidence matches your storyline to a T or else .......

So far, so good. What concerns me is that in our area, an increasingly popular technique involves multiple perps simultaneously hitting the front door. First they sever the phone lines, and then kick their way in. It has happened at all hours. I was at one time tempted to switch out my shotty for the Glock 21 as principal home defense, but I remembered the words of an old pistolero who once said "a handgun is what you use to help you get to a REAL weapon." Fair enough. When it comes time to respond to things that go bump in the night, the vintage Winchester Defender pictured below comes with me. It was my first choice for home defense purchase back in 1987. "Dance with the one that brought you."