I had a full post for this... but I deleted it.
It makes me very worried that I, or my wife could be tried and found guilty of protecting our home and our two babies from an intruder with awful intentions that illegally broke into our home, our sanctity...
I say do what you have a right to do... just make sure it looks good.
Ie: dont shoot him in the back, and make sure you leave him unable to tell the nice understanding cops
About how the mean old homeowner refused to be a good little sheep and cower in the closet threating to to call the police. Instead, he told him he couldn't have his stuff to pawn to pay for his next meth binge and then mercilessly shot him in the guts with a mini 14...
If he runs, im not gonna shoot him in the back, he'll be given a sporting chance to run. but if he turns and faces me he's getting serviced.
I will not run and hide in my own home, screw that. This is MY space, my castle and no one (except my wife

) dictates what I do in my home.
Im sick of good law abiding citizens being told that they have to allow criminal scum to victimize them, im sick of the fact that or so called civilized society says that violence is the last resort. It only emboldens these animals, they know there are no consequences of note to discourage them from victimizing good people, they know that it takes 20 minutes for the police to show up But hey, this is the way we seem to want it... and I cant change what goes on in public, as much as I would like to.
However, this kinder gentler bullshit stops at my front door.
As for the measured response to how dire an attack is before you resort to violence...
One must always infer that when a man raises his hand against you or brandishes a weapon that he intends to try and kill you. So any attack could be construed as a dire threat.
Anything less could cost you your life