noone wants to mess with the crazy guy that walks out the door guns blazing.
You are really giving the gun credit? Don't underestimate the power of "crazy" in the armed and crazy scenario.
Worked for Ronald Reagan.
Crazy works pretty good. Once drove off 5 guys trying to break into my house at 2am on a fourth of july. I was in the basement and I heard the back door knob. As one guy was working the door, the others were standing around. I climbed the step, grabbed my big boy mag lite and hit the garage security lights. As they turned to look at the lights I threw the door open and did my best impression of a 6'6" 250 pound guy swinging a mag lite like a crazy person. They were so screwed up and scared that it was like a cartoon. A couple ran into each other, then a couple tried to run THROUGH my stockade fence. I got to them just as the second one made it over the fence and he dropped his shoe. I secured the house and got on the phone to the po po. Two little fat lady cops showed up and I thought "oh great."
I gave them the shoe. They knew that the guys had come from a party a few houses down. (I recognized them) So... we new that they had to come back eventually. One cop parked her car down at one end of the street. The other hid in the shadows at the other end. When the kids manuevered to avoid the cop that they could see... the one that they couldn't rolled up.
"Is this your shoe, Cinderella?" Is what she told me she asked. The arrested two. I prosecuted two. The prosecutor tried to play the "go easy on them, do you really want these kids to have a felony record?"
I said "Get out of this room. I will see you inside the courtroom. Say another word and I will make a formal complaint of witness intimidation."
I went in and stood my ground., and told the story of the night that a home invasion was attempted at my home.
They went down on all charges. Criminal tresspass, carrying concealed weapon, several other neat charges.