House broken into yesterday.. home defense help needed

[Ashcan Bill]

I keep a couple of loaded guns around the house for home defense. Should somebody break in while I'm home, they will have an interesting day. If I'm not home, of course they can steal the weapons should they find them. But that's not the point - they're for personal defense when I am home. And we don't have kids in the house. If we ever did, the guns would be secured.

As far as types of guns, a shotgun is great. The sound of racking one into the chamber alone can be pretty intimidating, and a shotgun with an 18 inch barrel is fairly easy to wield, has a good spread, and won't penetrate too far so you don't have to worry about hitting your neighbor two doors down. I personally prefer revolvers, but keep a scatter gun as well.

Gun ownership obviously comes with responsibilities. They are tools one must learn to use safely. And your girlfriend should take a class as well, if she's willing. Doesn't help her much if she ever needed to protect herself, has a gun available, but doesn't know how to use it.