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"A man's home is his castle" stated English Common Law. The tradition of respect of safety in our own homes is all the more enduring for our ability to reinforce it. Americans have less concern than citizens in other countries about suffering a forcible home invasion. The reason for that is simple: predators who would break into an occupied home are very likely to be shot by the residents.

In other countries, especially those which have recently outlawed armed self-defense (such as England), home invasions are on the rise. Their criminals have nothing to fear from the law-abiding people.

Again, the inability of the predators to divine which house would be easy pickings and which would be defended effectively improves the safety even of those who would not keep arms for protection. An invader can't tell if you, your neighbor, both of you or neither of you would be equipped to end his criminal career on the spot. For that reason, burglars generally try to avoid contact with their victims.

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Many lawful people say that they would not shoot even a criminal in order to protect their posessions. However, we have no way of reading the minds of those who break into homes of other people. They may be after loot, or they may be intent on doing damage to any people they encounter.

Some predators rely on surprise and superior numbers to effect home invasions. Such perpetrators must be repelled, as they often combine burglary with diversions such as rape and murder. Reasoning with them, pleading, appealing to their better side does not work.

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Breaking into somebody's home is not an accidental act. A burglar who has no regard for the sanctity of your home would likely have no more regard for your physical well-being. With that in mind, please place your own safety first and foremost in your mind.

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Your goal is to survive the invasion until cops show up in strength. Going to look for the intruder would not be safe. Make sure that you have accounted for all family members, then stay put in the safe room and cover the door with your weapon. Any damage visited upon the intruder would be his own fault.

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Situations like this are one of the reasons why having more than one trained person in the family is helpful. You might be on the phone with police and distracted, but your spouse would cover you. Hopefully, the 911 emergency dispatch system would work well when you need it. In a city, police response may be rapid, but out in the country you may wait for an hour before help can get to you.

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Pointing a gun at somebody is not very nice but neither is breaking into people's homes. Furthermore, use of any less effective means of self-defense plays into the hands of the criminal. That isn't noble, merely stupid.

Fortunately, most burglars won't dare to loiter once they realize that they have been spotted. They are in for the easy pickings and not for ending up between armed homeowners on one side and police on the other. On the other hand, if they suspect that the residents are not armed, they would attack at once to prevent a call for help.

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"But how can you set yourself as jury, judge and executioner?" some would say. "Even criminals deserve a fair trial."

If a person must fire on an intruder, she would be doing so only in order to protect lives of self and dependents. Not to punish, not to discourage criminal behavior but to save lives from a predator. As a side effect, being shot in the process of committing a crime provides potent Pavlovian conditioning to the perpetrator.