Thanks to everybody who suggested the portable motion sensor light. The spotlight is a good idea as well. We’ll be pricing both.
CanvasShoes, thanks. I did not know that. While we’re at it, I spelled “choad” incorrectly. :rolleyes: 
pencilpusher, sure. You can have it. I heart you, too.
A 6v lantern would work quite well in that regard. Those things are powerful!
Get a 20 gauge shotgun. Load the magazine with #000. Keep the chamber empty.
Next time you hear something on the porch, grab the shotgun and head for the door. Whip the door open and immediately rack the gun as loud as you can. Then yell, “Which motherfucker wants to eat lead?” at the top of your lungs.
Works every time. 
That’s pretty much the idea at this point in time Crafter_Man. Except hyperjes isn’t so compfortable with a shotgun. Too big for her tastes. So we’ve decided on the Glock 23.
You know, I woulda been content to go the rest of my life grumbling about buying a gun and letting her put it off ad infinitum, as my father and mother have done before me. Alas, it’s not to be. Range passes have been purchased, licenses and weapon to follow.
Why not see if you can get some kind of night vision mini-camera set up with your porch in veiw? Record what goes on, and turn the results in to the police, so they can catch the people? I wish you two the best, but it does make my heart a little heavier knowing that you are relying on guns to help solve your problem.
Yeah, I do believe a woman home alone has the right to shoot someone in defense of her life. However, I also believe that it makes the chances that the homeowner will get harmed by their own weapon higher. Or, what if they stole the guns while you were out, and used them to murder or rob?
Just be careful, use all the precautions you can.
A few years ago I lived in a small apartment in a college town. My husband had gone to visit his relatives for the weekend, and I was home alone. Around 12:30 am I was laying on the couch watching television, and my head was near the front door (SMALL apartment). I heard someone turning my doorknob and shaking it as if they were checking to see if it was locked. I didn’t think twice; I jumped up, grabbed my phone and locked myself in my bedroom while I called 911. Less than a minute later, I saw two police cars pull up, and 4 officers ran out of them and up the steps to my second floor apartment. They banged on my door, yelling, “Police!! Open the door NOW!!!” Shaking like a leaf, I ran to the front door and flung it open. One of them gruffly asked me why I had called 911. “Someone was trying to get into my apartment!!” I cried! Then, my eyes fell to the outer doorknob. I continued, “…or, they could have been hanging a pizza flyer from my door…”
I still feel calling 911 was the right thing to do, and I gave the cops a good laugh. And I will never, EVER eat at Domino’s.
At half past midnight? :dubious:
Yes, at half past midnight. They deliver until 2 am (like I said, college town) and evidently they hang those things on the neighboring doors when they are making a delivery, or so I was told when I called to complain. But the 12:30 am factor is what made me so absolutely sure it was someone trying to break in. Oh well. My point was that calling 911 and making an ass out of yourself happens, but it’s not so bad. You definitely shouldn’t let the fear of looking like a fool stop you from calling just because you aren’t 100% sure that it’s a criminal. Sorry this turned into a slight hijack. 
Zabali, trust me, it makes my heart a little heavier too. I never wanted a gun in my house. We plan on taking whatever precautions are available to us to ensure that I never even have to think about using it.
The incident left me feeling pretty frickin’ vunerable, though. It also made me very aware that, were anything like that (or worse) to happen again, I would have absolutely no means of protecting myself. I cannot live comfortably with that knowledge.
So- Basically I plan to learn to use the gun proficiently in a safe environment (like the local gun range), register it in all legal ways, take a class for women on gun safety (offered at our local PD) and pray that I can keep the damn thing locked up and untouched from now until the end of time. (Except for regular “gun check-ups,” which I understand are necessary to ensure that the gun is in good working order and safe to use.)
But a shotgun can do something a Glock 23 can’t do. As David Lee Roth said after frightening off a drugged-up neighbor a few months ago, “Racking a shotgun says in 97 different languages (including Martian) ‘Hi! Whatcha doin’?’”
applause bravo hyperjes
Crafter_Man, you’re probably right. All the same, after handling a bunch of different types of guns at the gun shop, I’ve still decided the shotgun is a little too “big and clumsy” for me. I figure the thing won’t do me much good if it makes me nervous to hold it. I can’t explain it, really. I was telling d_redguy that I think it has something to do with the general shape of the Glock. After all, every squirt gun or toy pistol I had as a kid was pretty much the same “style.” So a handgun doesn’t feel as foreign when I hold it.
BigDaiv- Stop it… You’re making me blush.