I'm sorry to hear about your uncle, JB. It's a shame that this country doesn't provide better health care for it's citizens. Unfortunately, the powers that be believe they have better uses for our tax money.
Having lived in a third world country where bands of teenagers with axes and machetes come knocking at all hours, I am very quick to bristle at the notion of an intruder in my home. I would not hesitate to confront someone breaking in, if I felt it were a necessary risk. However, I've spent half of my life studying martial arts, to learn to assess those risks. It is for this reason that I do not own a gun; a gun turns any physical confrontation into a lethal one, very quickly. It doesn't matter if I'm holding the gun or the attacker.
I do not want to come off anti-gun, as I feel that I have a rather neutral stance compared to most people. However, I am, most definitely, anti-pro-gun. The gun is not the first solution, nor is it the only solution. Many people in America are raised to think that having a gun is a great way to take control of a dangerous situation, and nothing could be further from the truth. A gun is a weapon of desperation; there is no such thing as shooting someone a little, or shooting them gently. The only time you really need something as powerfully violent as a gun is if you are assuredly facing up against someone with a gun.
I choose to keep a shillelagh beside my bed for self-defense, and rather than have a gun, I've studied how to disarm an attacker with a gun. I can throw someone off me gently, and I can sprain their wrist to keep them from squeezing a trigger. Those same techniques with more force can become killing or breaking blows, just as effective as a bullet to the target area, but the decision is mine to make.
But this begs the question - is someone breaking into your home to kill you? No. Do they want to use their gun? No. If a person wants your stuff, just give it to them. I, like Scott, see a lot of gun hobbyists, mostly teenage boys (hey, I won't be a teenager in three weeks, so nyah,) who are under the impression that making the decision to shoot is an easy one. I have never been in that situation myself, but I can tell you, deciding when to take a confrontation to the next level is NEVER easy. A criminal has already put their neck out and has more to loose than you do - whenever it's possible, don't force their hand by pulling your own gun.
When I first moved to this town to go to school I spent a lot of time walking by myself at night, because I do not have a car. One night, I was walking home, and a man pulled a knife on me as I was cutting through a park. I know how to handle myself in such a situation, and was able to get him to the ground, but after it became clear that no one was coming to help me, I had to make a very difficult decision. After sitting there wrestling with this guy for what seemed like forever, I broke his knee so I could go find help. I would have never imagined that I would have to think about it, but it was a very difficult decision to make, despite the fact that that very man had a knife to my throat minutes before. When I returned with the police, they didn't find him.
I still feel very guilty about doing it, but I had failed to choke him to incapacitate him for what seemed like much too long, and I didn't think that I could hold out longer. Remembering that moment makes me sick and upset, to this day. I know it wasn't my fault, and I know I was in the right, but seeing another human being in severe pain is a very shocking experience in any context. It's taken a lot of work for me just to get back on the mat and practice with my sparring partners. I cannot imagine the guilt I would feel having killed, or the horror of looking at someone I'd just shot. I hope it never has to happen, and to that end I study ways to end my physical conflicts without serious injury.
Target practice with pictures of people you don't like is not going to prepare you for having to make that kind of decision. Marksmanship is an admirable skill in it's own right, but don't mistake it for critical thinking and willpower.
~Joe