Sancocho: Do not disagree with your position at all. My basic thrust in the question I raised here is that this is a very personal decision, that many people are not really attuned to making a RATIONALE decision on. All too often it is more a 'By God, I need a gun!. No training, no experience and in a crunch probably could not hit a bull in the ass with a base fiddle. I also think it is very presumptuous to assume an intruder is going to run if a shaky trembling voice (particularly female) says in the darkness, "I have a gun." If the intruder is drunk, high, panicked, etc. It may be the homeowner's last words. There are too many home safety and security features available in this modern world for it to come down to a 'shoot out at the O.K. corral.' Police officials are convinced that there are many more near misses each year than intruders stymed. (near misses = daughter returening who snuck out, son driving all night from college to surprise parents, neighbor out side rounding up his 'escaped' dog, etc. Police say people call if they ran off intruder, NEVER if they almost drew down (or actually shot at) a 'friendly.' And I don't even want to think about the guy that comes home late at night drunk and is suddenly awaken by a noise?????