It's late at night, and you're home all alone. It's been a quiet night, but for some reason you can't sleep. You double-checked to make sure all of the doors were locked and all of the windows were closed. During your restless night, you hear a bump in the kitchen. You dismiss it as the wind. But there it is again, and it's louder this time. You're scared, your pulse is racing and you cannot think of what to do. You're not sure whether you should call 911 or lay there and hope whatever it is goes away. Then you remember your handgun in the nightstand. You quietly get it out, take off the trigger lock, and retrieve the bullets from your closet. You don't want to create an unnecessary confrontation so you huddle behind your bed and hope whomever it is takes what they want and leaves. You hear footsteps coming down the hall towards you. Your heart is pounding. The intruder tries to open the door but luckily you locked it. There is still the possibility that it's your spouse so you don't shoot through the door. Suddenly the intruder kicks the door in, sending splinters of wood flying through the room. The time has come. You rise from the side of your bed instinctively assuming a marksman's pose and fire just as the intruder is raising his weapon. He flies back against the wall and slumps into a lifeless pile. You race to the phone and dial 911.
             Situations just like the one above happen thousands of times every year. Statistics show that law-abiding citizens use guns to defend themselves against criminals as many as 2.5 million times every year – or about 6,850 times a day. In the overwhelming majority of these cases the citizen merely brandishes their weapon or fires a warning shot. Less than eight percent of the time does a citizen kill or even wound his or her attacker. As many as 200,000 of these cases were women protecting themselves against sexual ...