Firstly I am very relieved for your friend and her husband that the worst case scenario didn't happen in that instance but unfortunately this kind of thing is very common here and it's a very difficult decision to have to weigh up the pros and cons. I'm happy with the decision I chose back then in those circumstances, but to be honest I really would prefer having a fire arm at home now for self defense in case of a home invasion.
Thanks for the comment, have a lovely day.
Andy
I think when you're in a situation where both have a gun, the one with theirs out and willing to use it is going to be the victor. Having a gun for home invasion, on the other hand, should give the home owner the advantage because you usually have been alerted to them coming. That's assuming you can have the gun to hand.
In Australia and the UK your guns have to be locked up in a safe, separate to your ammunition, so they aren't really accessible. It's illegal to have a gun for the purposes of self defense anyway. In Australia you aren't even allowed pepper spray as self defense. Only the police can use it.
That is similar here, we also have to have them in a safe. Pepperspray is allowed here as are many things that are banned in other countries. I know that in places like Canada you aren't allowed knives or knuckle dusters even if they are just as collector or show pieces, they are considered weapons.
If that was implemented here, it would simply mean that all the guns, knives and other miscellaneous weapons would belong to the criminals because they certainly aren't going to surrender their weapons and then crime would literally take over in a very short space of time. It's the wild west out here in South Africa.