I must be the odd man out because I have (2) loaded secondary home defense sidearms in the top drawer of my nightstand that's just an arm length away: an 11-round 45ACP pistol with a light/laser combo rail-mounted and a 31-round 9MM pistol loaded with 147-grain Black Talons.

I'm also a light sleeper and I have K9s in house that sound bellowing alarms if a coon farts outside that awakens me. But when I think their growls and barks "sound" serious enough, I just take a few steps and grab my primary home defense tool: an 8-round 12-gauge pump shotgun loaded with Centurion buckshot that's equipped with a rail-mounted light, too.

I live in a rural area and the kids are grown and gone. I don't think I'd be a high valued target for a professional burglar, or some deranged serial killer or assaulter. But the backwoods rural meth-heads, well, they're the ones that cause me the greatest concern of late. Meth-heads seem to be growing in numbers everywhere daily...