There's another down side to blanks. Perp confronts you and you have 4 or 5 blanks...he has real bullets...you loose. If you're gonna play with guns, play to win (stay alive in this case). But I do think about Mikey's concerns. I'm not sure I'd want to live in a house I'd shot someone in, but maybe it wouldn't bother me if it was a justified shooting. 'hope not to find out.

Lowell, it'll be one of my 1911 guns, a couple of 70 series Gold Cups are in my arsenal as well as a comp gun. Shotguns are unwieldly in the close quarters of a house. A sxs has but two shots, a damascus one won't impress either the perp or the police. Rifles are better suited as offensive weapons for attacking a fortification in the context of this discussion. I did a little 'practical pistol' shooting long ago. I think the pistol is an efficient weapon, handled correctly. Again, 'hope never to have to find out about any of this.

The Torrance Police Dept blocked off the streets leading into Torrance during the last riots in L.A. I expect they'll do the same during the next mass unrest. I'm sufficiently buried back inside the city, away from the 'bad' borders that probabilities are in my favor. I do keep a revolver close by in the bedroom, but I don't sleep with a 1911 under my pillow.