Shooting is a martial art and airgun shooting is the most practical for us city dwellers. It is conventional wisdom that if you can shoot an airgun well then you will be able to shoot firearms well too. I can't comment on this since I'm not a firearms shooter.
Secure your home.
The lights will be the most effective. I can tell you from experience that it requires balls to cross an open, lighted space at night when there is a possability of being seen. The deadbolts and locked windows will discourage casual thieves and force a determined thief to make noise to get into your house. Always locking the front door keeps you in the habit of locking up.
One of the first computer jobs that I had was as a night operator. The building I worked in was in a moderately respectful downtown area. One night I was checking the terminals and I happened to look out the window. There was a guy walking down the street. This was about 2:00 am. I knew most of the nighthawks by then but I had never seen this guy before so I watched to see what he would do. Well, he walks into the parking lot and checks the doors of every car in the lot. None of the cars were unlocked and he moved on. I suspect that if he had found one unlocked, he would have rifled it and maybe stolen the radio. Casual theft.
So there you have it. An eyewitness account of a casual thief being deterred by some locked cars. The thing about deterrence is that you never know if it is working but you always know when it fails. And failed deterrence leads into the next phase of home self-defense. Armed confrontation.
Avoid at all costs short of you and your families health and life. Running away is cheaper emotionally, physically, and financially than fighting. But if it comes, be sudden and vicious. Do not think in terms of defense. Set up an ambush in your bed room and when the guy walks into it, kill him.
Mossberg 500 or 590 pump, 20 gauge.
A shotgun because it is the closest weapon to a submachine gun. A submachine gun that fires a .45 at a slow rate and has a large magazine would be the ideal home defense weapon. However, a submachine gun is illegal. The shotgun is not.
20 gauge because it is easier to handle than a 12 gauge for someone who will practice only a couple of times a month.
Pump because it is less prone to jams. And can be cleared quickly if it does jam. The down side is that you will have to practice enough so that racking the slide is instinctive.
Mossberg 500 or 590 because it is the best value and has a good reputation as a weapon.
People think of shotguns sporting arms not weapons. This could be important at your trial.
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