Your paraniod. Get a good OWB holster for carry around the house, and get comfortable with a round chambered. Then you‘ll be prepared.
Serously,
…I think your wife is not on board with your home defense choices and you need to deal with that first.
…
+1
First rule of a gun fight is to have a gun. Get some sort of latch for the screen door. I know that during hot weather, it’s not so easy to say, “shut the door”, but your trading off security.
You do realize that when you mentioned an empty chamber as your defense, you effectively painted the practice of carrying with one in the chamber as irresponsible in your view. That’s a hurdle you’ll have to clear once you become more comfortable with the firearm.
I started OC’ing around my parents house when I visit them. My mother asked my “why?” (in that condescending, critical way that all anti’s think that we should answer to them). My response shut it down immediately. I simply asked her (in a calm and loving way) why she had a problem with it. That was the end of it. Some day we may finish that conversation, but I can wait until she is ready to deal with it, at which time I'll try to be there for her.
People have real (however illegitimate they may be) fears about guns. You can argue about the justifications all you want, but until you and they address their fears, they won’t be capable of rational discussions on the topic.
You have to determine where her respect for you lies, and to what extent it exists. Either she trusts your judgment or not. Until you figure things like that out, discussing it may well be pointless. Ask yourself this question, “If she has a problem with you having an “empty!” gun handy (or not since it’s empty), then how much support will she be able to provide if you (God forbid) should have to actually kill some cretin while defending you, or her?”
OBTW,
Go to
http://www.corneredcat.com/ and do your homework by reading everything she has posted there.
Another thing,
Concealing, covering, or stashing the gun out of sight won’t take care of the problem. It might help resolve the issue when after a year of doing it she discovers that you’ve had it handy all along, and nothing bad happened. However you also have to determine if she’ll see that as a trust issue. Either way, the problem still has to be dealt with, “Does she trust you with a firearm in the house, and why does she have a problem with it?”.
Another OBTW,
The shotgun doesn’t do much good in the closet, especially with an unlocked screen door. Once you get here used to the idea of a gun present, work in the shotgun. It’s more effective than a pistol, by putting more lead downrange. That doesn’t mean “in place of the pistol”, it means “in addition”. They each have their advantages.