Goodness, do I have a lot to learn! Wow!
Thank you so much for the help! I’m going to write these things down for when I go to the gun show.
I think I’ll have more questions once I get a one and practice with it. ( That Bersa and DB380 are a nice looking and something I could carry around all day. )
To be honest, I’m a bit nervous about all this. I never, ever thought I’d need to get a gun but the way this country is going, and I hear about homes being broke into more and more, my husband and I decided to do something. Since we don’t live near family, it’s just the two of us so we have to be prepared to protect ourselves for our children’s sake.
MIght I suggest that you start small and simple first (without losing too much protection). My wife loves her Ruger SR22, a smaller .22cal semiauto pistol. Spend lots of time on the range with it (.22 ammo is cheap). Then if you want, you can upgun to a larger caliber. .22 is still deadly and iirc, each bullet hits with the force of wacking someone with a baseball bat. 10 rounds in short order will definitely give a bad guy second thought.
Also beef up home defense with an alarm and other things like suggested here
http://offgridsurvival.com/homeinvasion/
If they decide to get you; they will have thought about it a lot!
They WILL have the element of surprise if they kick in the door and charge in; not quite as much if you answer the door and then barge in.
The thinking/reaction time that YOU have then is VERY short, and you must be prepared on that basis.
Any thing you can do to lengthen that time is money in the bank.
Live in tight proximity to others in an apartment? Then you are attuned to ignoring those close by, by sheer necessity.
Some kind of motion detector near doors or other entry points would give you more time, but also more false alarms.
You live in a single dwelling in a neighborhood?
Then you have a bit more space between your secure area and the public area. Again, anything you can do to alert you that someone is approaching will give you valuable time. Video cameras are so cheap now you could place them in a variety of places, pointing so that normal traffic does not enter the scene, but an intruder would trigger the motion sensing software.
Out in the 'burbs with a long drive to your house?
Driveway sensors can alert a vehicle approaching normally.
Way out in the boonies where NO help is close by rapidly?
All the above with ways to slow them down.
"Smile for the Game Camera, Bambi" might deter some; but sensor triggered strobes on the perimeter should scare away most any crook!