Add another one...

... to the number of defensive gun uses this year. At least peripherally.

 

Last night, after BBQ'ing all afternoon and going to bed relatively early, the dogs started barking around 1:30 am. This is unusual for them to bark in the house, so I got up to investigate and caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a flashlight shining in the back yard. Got some shoes on and my side arm to investigate, but whoever was out there had taken off.

 

So one could say that being armed had nothing to do with preserving my safety and that the dogs were more important in chasing off the intruder. But at the same time, I had the ability to do more about it if necessary. If the dogs barking had proved an ineffective deterrent, the option existed. I'd say that makes it a viable defensive use, tho one that would be relatively hard to quantify statistically, even if such uses were routinely reported. There must be many such diffuse "uses" every day, even if the direct effect of a person being willing to check out bumps in the night is hard to measure

 

Of course, I could be making a bigger deal of it than it deserves, but my lack of sleep afterward makes it stick in my mind today.