I've never known anyone, ever, who has found themselves in a postion where the use of lethal force would have been appropriate.
Fine, but that doesn't mean it's never happened to anyone you
don't know. If you've never seen the
NRA's The Armed Citizen column, every month usually contains several examples of someone defending their home against an armed/drug-crazed (often both) intruder. Many of those who refuse to be victims are elderly, in rural areas, and sometimes don't have to fire a shot. Sometimes it only takes one shot.
Here's an example that's not from N.O.
or L.A.:
Bangor Daily News, Bangor, ME, 06/15/05
American Rifleman Issue: 9/1/2005
Thanks to his trusty .22 rifle, it took less than 10 minutes for a Waldo County, Maine, man to rid his home of intruders. The man and his wife, both in their 70s, were awakened at 6:30 a.m. when their front door was smashed open. The intruders -- at least two of them -- blindfolded the woman and left her in the living room. They bound her husband's feet to the footboard of his bed and threw a pillowcase over his face. The home-invaders repeatedly asked the couple "where the stuff was," said Maine State Police Detective David Tripp. Exactly what 'stuff' they were looking for was unclear, but police speculate they may have been looking for drugs. While the intruders were elsewhere in the house, the man freed himself and retrieved a .22-cal. rifle kept by the side of his bed. When one intruder returned to the room, the man fired a shot at him, hitting the bedroom wall. "They fled the residence," said Tripp. It was the fourth home invasion reported in Waldo County in the past year.
I doubt very much that anyone discussing this subject
wants to be in such a position, but if it ever happened, we'd like to deal with it. I'd also bet that anyone else in this discussion is not the type to "blaze away" at "a shape in the darkness." Anyone without a light mounted on the shotgun
and some training and practice behind them probably
should leave it unloaded.
Unless the vinyl siding has been replaced on a certain house where I once lived, I can still point out the bullethole left by a couple of mooks driving past the house. They were apparently trying to "send a message" about my brother's testimony regarding their purchase of the gasoline that they used when they tried to set another police officer's house on fire. The knowledge of what could've happened to them if they had tried to come inside our house while armed may be what kept them at the distance they chose.
I'm not planning to have anything catch fire in my house, but we have smoke detectors and several extinguishers. We
don't have any signs that say "Attention burglars: take whatever you want, just don't hurt us."