Not exactly true. If a burglar is in your home in the dead of night, and you shoot him, you will likely not be convicted of any crime. You have no way of knowing whether or not the intruder has a weapon or not, and since he has the temerity to break and enter an occupied home, odds are very decent that he IS armed and willing to sacrifice you and yours for your property. There's a saying around here about this very subject: "If you shoot a burgler on your front porch, be sure to drag his ass inside before you call the police".

If I were to be awakened at 3:00 AM by a noise and find a guy wearing a ski mask in my hallway, God help him, because I won't hesitate to pull the trigger. Odds are, he wouldn't hesitate to pull his on me. Oh, and before we go there, if someone commits a robbery with an empty weapon, it is still armed robbery. There are more than a few criminals that think it is a good idea to use an empty weapon, so that in case they're caught, they can say that they never intended to use the weapon, since it was empty. This does NOT work in court.

And for the record, there is at least one firearm in every room of my house. No, we don't have kids. Yes my wife knows how to shoot. Yes, I feel safer knowing that I can defend myself if the need arises.