Well said, Nomercy...

You might add that if an intruder is in your house, you can't even fire the weapon if the intruder's back is turned. The law looks at that as if the intruder was leaving. Therefore, it can also viewed as murder.

My home defense:
Two barking black labs. Now, if an intruder gets past my dogs, he'll be confronted with:

a) Taurus .38 special snubnose with Federal Hydra-shock hollowpoints.
b) Remington 870 Express 12GA with 00 buckshot.
c) Marlin Model 60 .22 rifle with CCI Stingers.

(a) is the primary choice, as (b) and (c) are not that accessable as they are locked in their cases and ammo is stored in a separate location. The Taurus is also kept unloaded (obviously), but has a speedloader close by.