Well, this could go on forever. A shotgun takes two hands and is hard to maneuver in close quarters. You can't control it AND push something, for instance. Someone who closes rapidly can immobilize both you and the shotgun. On the plus side, it's short range, and quite incapacitating.

A few years ago, more than 2 and less than 4, I was awakened by a noise in the hallway outside my bedroom. It was winter and stormy but this wasn't rain or wind.

At that time I lived alone, with a dog and cat. The previous night I had met a friend for dinner, and she wound up driving, dropping me off at my house. Through a series of flukes, my car was at hers.

The noises were purposeful, not the dog and not the cat. Someone was going through the drawers I have in a hall closet. There was no legitimate person who would be doing that.

I grabbed my trusty handgun, a double-action auto, released the safety, and listened. The noises went on, drawers opening then closing, the person(s) in no hurry.

After what seemed like hours, I opened my door into the hall, and burst out, gun at the ready, yelling my lungs out, the standard stuff. There was one person there, wearing "stealthy" clothing, and I couldn't see their hands or what was in them.

As the person screamed, their empty hands went up to their face. It was my sister.

She and her husband lived a few blocks away. She hadn't been able to sleep, was going for a walk, and felt safer with my dog along. She bundled herself up against the weather, didn't call as it was early. When she didn't see my car in the driveway she assumed I was gone. That was common.

My dog's leash wasn't where it usually was, outside by the gate to his run. Since it didn't seem I was home, she came inside to get it.

Had she had one of the larger, rounder retractable leashes in her hand when I jumped out, and raised that toward her face, I could easily have shot her. I have lost sleep over that.

Since then I have one of those enormous rechargeable lights by my bed. Those things will blind anyone at night.

It may be that a bad guy of one sort or another will get me. Could happen. I'd rather have that happen than take a chance on shooting my sister. I couldn't live with myself if that, or something like that, happened.

Arf