You have to consider that a gun isn't the holy grail of self defense.
Don't get me wrong. I have a permit and I carry, but when sh!t jumps off, there are issues of being able to draw and retain. You need to exercise a certain level of vigilance in order to see a threat before it invades your space, at which point, drawing and retaining are substantially more likely to be compromised.
So, while a gun may be as good a defense as you can get, I look at it as a piece and not the entirety of my personal protection.
As far as legal issues go, you're more likely to go to jail for beating someone than for shooting them if you follow the law and don't pull your gun unless your life is seriously threatened. Let me give an example to illustrate from a case that actually happened here in Columbus.
A guy wakes up in the middle of the night to noises in his house. He is on the second floor and hears people on the first floor. He grabs a bat and catches the first of two burglars off-guard. The perp was armed with a shotgun and so the guy hit him with the bat until he went down, and maybe a few more times until he seemed incapacitated. He then grabs the shotgun and shoots the other guy. I believe both burglars died. However, he was only charged with the first assault, as even though the fight was bat vs. shotgun, it was deemed that hitting the guy as many times as he did was excessive force, whereas he only shot the other guy once - not excessive.
If you carry, even legally, you may well find yourself having to go to court over shooting someone, but you will be no worse off (and quite possibly better off) than if you beat the sh!t out of someone or cut/stab them. The law is funny that way.
The cinnabun palm is deadly, especially when combined with the tomato kick. - TenTigers