Re: Americans
@ Jellied Eel:
I think those scenarios are very rare, and you shouldn't be relying on spray & pray.
1. Risk == probability_of_occurrance x severity_of_negative_consequences
Being severely injured or killed is a sufficiently-huge negative consequence that it dwarfs the lowish-but-rising probability this will happen. Where you live is a major factor. The reason the probability is rising is the increase in peoples' abusing drugs.
It appears you did not read what I wrote about why you would spray-and-pray.
2. I have a dislike of "tacticool" weapons, and largely agree with your comments on shotguns for home defense. To a sober, unimpaired, rational person, the "shick-chack" sound of a pump-action being racked screams in their mind, "Get the hell away from here!"
Drunk and drugged-up people are not rational, and frequently do not act in their own best interests. If such people break into your home, you cannot count on intimidation -- even the 12-guage variety -- to sway them. You cannot even count on killing their partners-in-crime to sway them. There's a good chance you will only anger them, rather than cowing them.
Shotguns are very-effective at injuring and killing, but they are awkward inside a house or apartment. Further, they have only six to eight shots, in a very-slow-to-reload tube magazine.
Pistols are extremely-easily manueverable in cramped quarters, and a 9mm pistol holds 13-15 rounds per clip. I am a lousy shot with a pistol, even when I am calm, facing no threats, and am trying to punch holes in paper targets. I can hit the paper square about 75% of the time. ("Hey, look, I hit the clothes pin holding the target to the wire.") Pumped up on adrenalin, as one would be in such a situation, I probably am even worse.
Semi-auto rifles can hold about 30 rounds in a large clip. For home defense, a "bullpup" style would substantially increase one's effective manueverability, and Glaser Safety Slugs mitigate the problem of your rounds going through walls and hitting people you don't want to hit (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glaser_Safety_Slug).
Or it can be better to try and avoid such situations by making some home improvements, like security lighting & alarms, decent solid doors and turn your primary into a safe room just by adding a firedoor and a lock.
1. A room is not made safe against intruders by merely adding a sturdy door. Lath-and-plaster, or even sheetrock walls are a weak point.
2. A not-drunk, not-high-on-drugs crim or gang would look at the lighting, security cameras, hardened doors, etc., and likely decide to look for a different, softer target. Thugs impaired by booze and drugs are becoming more and more the norm. You cannot count on them to be "logical" and move on to a different target.
3. Most people live in flats or other rentals whose management would prohibit their renters from modifying the property (new, sturdier framing to support heavy doors, wiring changes for lights, cameras, and alarms, etc.).
It also amuses me that preppers with lots of firearms might not realise they could be making themselves a target because criminals often use stolen guns. And how do they get those?..
Criminals frequently get guns by stealing them, of course. I don't know why some people with guns don't keep them locked up. If you're a crim on the prowl, a prominent "Protected by Smith & Wesson" placard will tell you swag is available within.
