I just want to add that official Neighborhood Watch programs dictate that the participants be UNARMED, not even a knife.
That is RIDICULOUS! I would never myself go out to "watch the neighborhood" without being armed, and I would never ask my neighbors to do it either. How can you ask for volunteers and then take away their rights?!? Maybe we'll start our own form of neighborhood watch - make our own signs, our own rules. Basically, I think anyone who volunteers to come out at night and keep an eye out should be allowed to arm themselves to the full extent of the law (so whatever THEY are normally allowed to carry).
By the way, we DO have a dog, and do NOT have a garage. No one in this neighborhood has a garage - these are fairly small houses (most under 2000 sq. ft.), on small lots, built in the 1920s and 1930s.
I kinda like the idea of hiding in a tree or on a roof (comfortably concealed and armed, of course) with several laser pointers. If someone suspicious walks or drives along, I can "light them up" as they walk/drive by.
So what's the consensus on letting "the criminal element" know that we're armed? Yes/no? I do NOT want our house broken into... but my husband works out of our house, so there is usually someone home, pretty much all of the time. When we go out of town or something, guns get locked up. Of course, that doesn't stop them from breaking in and looking anyway. We haven't really had any HOME break-ins, just cars. Part of the reason I'm really upset about this is that I DON'T want things to escalate past "easy" crimes.
Thanks for all the responses!!