I respect the enthusiasm that the US members have for personal gun ownership. As to whether gun ownership makes US society safer,. or even US families safer, that's a debateable issue. all the statistics available suggest that a heightened gun ownership rate does not make the society safer. just the opposite actually.
Having said that, I can relate to the reasons why people might wish to own a gun for home protection. in Australia you cant own a firearm for "home protection". All guns in private ownership need to be licensed and if you were to put on the license application that you wanted the weapon for protection, the application would be rejected. Valid reasons for gun ownership might include firearms collection of antiques, club membership, pest control (as a farmer). Within those parameters its fairly easy to obtain gun ownership, though you can forget it if you have a record, or if you have a record of mental illness. you must also complete a fairly rigorous gun safety course and pass the examination that goes with that. There is a 28 day mandatory waiting perod from when you apply to when you get your licence
I recently seriously considered re-applying for my gun licence, which is why I know about it. I already have a licence to carry firearms for my work but not at home, but all this carry on in the US and paris recently made me realise how vulnerable we are to the lunatic elements.
If I were to acquire a weapon or weapons for home security, I think there would be three broad categories, handgun, rifle and close range shotgun. I would go for weapons I am familiar with I think, although the rifle would need to be a bit of a departure from that.
I was considering 9mm Browning, 12 gauge pump action police issue 8 shot chamber short barrel, rifle probably a lever action small bore maybe 0.243 calibre
or similar.
For the moment, whilst I try and figure this out, I have a baseball bat, and a 70lb bow that I rely on. The bow I can hit you with a crippling shot at 90m if I need to.....