I have two young kids in the house, so my Mossberg resides in a Hornady RAPiDSafe, spring-opened by an RFID tag inside my cell phone case. To respond to an intruder in the house, I have to:
1. Get out of bed, put on my glasses (I ain't touching a gun unless I can see what I'm pointing it at)
2. Grab/unplug my phone
3. Place phone against the safe, which pops open to release the shotgun
4. Chamber a shell
5. Turn on flashlight mounted on the forend rail (if necessary)

If some crazy person knew which bedroom was mine (easy with the slightest bit of reconnaissance), they could break a window and I'd be dead before I even got to step 2 above (I know, I've timed both sides of that encounter). Anything that would reduce that response time to an acceptable level would increase the odds of my kids being harmed by that firearm to at least 100X the odds of them being harmed in a home invasion.

Anyway, my point is that if you are legitimately concerned about the risk of a deadly home invasion, it takes MUCH more than a gun to be truly 'safe'. And if you have kids, even that gun is either 1. a far greater threat to their safety than the rare home invasion or 2. too slowly-accessed to be actually useful in a home invasion.

Honestly, a dog might be the best deterrent/protection. My widow mom lives alone in a rural area surrounded by crazy rednecks that hate her, and she has never even had a close call. I think her two dogs are a strong deterrent. She has a 20 gauge if the dogs aren't enough, but at the very least dogs are a good alarm system.


[Post edited by The_Phew at 11/15/2021 8:55PM]