I'm trying to find out laws about firearms. I've been to packing.org which is a very helpful site about possesion laws and getting permits, etc. It doesn't tell me when I'm allowed to use it though.

Here's the scenario, You're in your bed sleeping and someone breaks into your house. Are you allowed to pull out your licensed hand gun and just shoot them right there? Or do you need to be threatened or shot at first? What makes it okay or 'self defense'?

Reason I bring this up is I got robbed twice in the last week. First time, they ransacked the house and grabbed all the little things (CD's, DVD's, little electronics/gadgets and jewerly). Two days later, they came back for the bigger things and took my 17" Flat LCD monitor, Dolby Stereo System, Xbox, Gamecube and other little crap.

I actually came home the 2nd time they were robbing my house. I drove in my driveway, saw lights on in the house that I left off, and someone standing at the doorway. I called 911, and kept honking my horn over and over to get the neighbor's attention. By the time the cops came 5 minutes later, they all left out the back. I don't think they will come back because they pretty much got everything, but I really want to protect myself in case it were to happen again.