[RWebb]

Using a gun really takes away a lot of the satisfaction of beating an intruder senseless with your bare hands/feet/elbows/knees or a blunt object.

Of course you never know if they are carrying a knife or gun...

I never locked a door even at night until the 1990s.

The nice thing about a locked door is that if somebody does get in, it obviously cannot be argued that they went to wrong house and just walked in accidentally. That gives you a lot more latitude to blow their ass to hell.