Do you live in an apartment ? Are children in the house ? If no to both then pistols are fine for defense. Do you really want to try spraying someone who comes after you with a gun ?
I don't think so. Deploying pepper spray is fraught with the potential for failure. What if you miss? What if the assailant is wearing glasses? What if he manages to grab your arm? What is the effective range? What if there is more than one bad guy? There are plenty of situations where just displaying a gun ends the encounter. For example, someone is trying to force your door. Which has the greater deterrent effect, a gun or pepper spray? All people are saying here is don't just buy a gun and toss it in the bedside table. You and your wife need to be able to run it literally when you're so sacred you can't breathe.
Baron, just make sure you don't chase them, you might pull a muscle: Alex Trebek Injures Leg While Chasing Burglar "It happened at 2:30 a.m., chasing a burglar down the hallway of my San Francisco hotel when my Achilles tendon ruptured and I then fell on carpet, bruising the other leg in process," Trebek, 70, explains" "Police confirmed to the San Francisco Chronicle that a hotel guest had in fact woke up early Wednesday to find somebody in the room, then gave chase. Police didn't identify the victim or the hotel, but said the victim was injured. A 56-year-old woman was apprehended by hotel security and booked by police for investigation of burglary and receiving stolen property."
================ Baron; I had a .410 single shot & 12 Remington 1100 [both blued steel ]gauge as a kid; still highly recomend them. Still like the 12 , elephants have been dropped with those.Police depts also like the 12 guage for riot control; your wife may enjoy the .410 more, especially after reviewing safety rules. And like trading , some diversification can be helpful; Smith & Wesson .357/38 special, stainless steel pistol is great, but noisy.[Make sure to use ear protection. ]Many major metro areas have shooting ranges, but prefer private property myself I like a Ruger .22 stainless semi-auto steel pistol; but thats more for targets, I like ear protection for a 22 pistol also. My favorite gun safety commandment; ''treat every gun with respect due a loaded gun.'' That way one never has to use the excuse ''i did not know it was loaded''
Whatever you end up with Baron, DYODD. Deodorant works as well as pepper spray, (I recommend rexona sport) , martial arts should not be overlooked, and attempting to do anything much in pitch black, drowsy, sleepy, unaware, with a firearm or without, is fraught with danger, no matter which way you slice it. Or not slice it, as the case may be. Nasty shit to have to legitimately consider, so good luck.
Hehe, nice collection. Anyway, funny timing but the London riots showed that you can never be too prepared. If even just one citizen on each street had come out with a long gun and aimed it at anyone trying to destroy or loot property, or attack people, the riots would have been over in a few hours.