House broken into yesterday.. home defense help needed

If you are going with just the one gun I recommend something like www.shotlock.com Great for inside a closet or even a bed frame.

Another way to go is one of these behind the door or again in the closet. Easy to install. Sized to fit in between standard studs. There are other makers that are similar. Just cut into the drywall for the right height and screws are installed inside the safe into the studs.

There is very little advantage to a pistol grip if any and a lot of disadvantages.

[floydpink]

I love my guns but my kid more, so I am very careful.

My pistol sits in a gun safe on my nightstand that can be opened with a couple pushes.

I have a homemade shotgun rack behind my entertainment center in my bedroom, a two way alarm system, and a barking dog who knows if anyone is near my house.

I've had a long talk with my daughter about guns and she knows what their purpose and dangers are.

I agree on shotguns for hd, and keep mine loaded with turkey shot as my house is a split plan, and overpenetration and having no neighbors to brag to about the bad guy I shot concerns me. (thus my reluctance to use 00 buck)

I've heard the story a million times about bird shot being for the birds, but after shooting drywall and filled milk jugs up close with birdshot, I am quite confident.

As far as alarms, where I live, the cops won't respond immediately to an alarm, but with 2 way monitoring, they guarantee a 45 second response time and someone is on the speaker in your living room asking for a password and is able to dispatch police quickly.

My wife is a little paranoid that they can listen in on us, but I'm not. ( I think...)