40+ years ago, I was reading late one evening in my living room in a run-down fixer-upper house in a transitional neighborhood. Our mid-sized city was in a growth spurt and the police department was understaffed.
While I sat there, someone tried to break in through a nearby window.
I called the police department (this was before the 911 system) and got a busy signal. Uh-oh.
However, the situation wasn't as dire as you might think. The window glass was broken when I bought the house. I had patched/covered-over the window with some sticky plastic do-it-yourself "storm window material" I had seen on TV.
"EasyPeasy" the commercial promised. But I have limited craft skills. I soon got all tangled up in the sticky plastic and just jammed what I could into the window opening and cut myself loose from the remainder. It was a big old wadded up mess.
The home-invader, poor guy, was probably some homeless person looking for a night's shelter. It was really cold and my house certainly looked abandoned.
I could tell from the thrashing around sounds and muffled cursing that he had got himself tangled up in the sticky "storm window". He retreated and after awhile I retired.
But the police department busy signal bothered me and the next morning I bought the used .38. If I had had it the night before I certainly would not have shot. I am a sensible restrained person.
A lot of people are not, though. So I don't mind reasonable gun-control laws. And I especially am in favor of restricting/banning high-capacity magazine and rapid-fire weapons.