A good alert dog is usually a better deterrent than a gun. IMO.
They will hear things long before you would and hopefully bark or growl..making the bad guys go elsewhere.
Plus,
Consider adding up the time to actually wake up & be alert, get the gun out of it's safe & secure place & load it, and then scare off any possible intruder ..
Hopefully a gun will be stored away in a locked place where kids /
impulsive actions will be prevented.



I think maybe 14 ounces of pressure to fire vs 14 pounds?

I suppose a lil .22 would do the job enough to scare someone off and hurt a lil bit if you absolutely had to shoot..
Following all the laws of your state of course.