SS, the point that I was trying to get across is that it would be difficult to ascertain the lowlife's motives in a very short period of time. Being woken in the middle of the night to somebody breaking in is enough to give anybody a heart attack, if you had a gun the first thing you would do is grab it (well I would do anyway). Hopefully switching the lights on and yelling FARK OFF whilst waving a gun around would be enough to scare him off (I don't think he'd be coming back in a hurry!).
I do mostly agree with your last post, I believe that when a person decides to break the law they sign away their rights as a human being, I feel that person has as much right to life as a feral animal………..and you should not get life for killing a pest. That's what I think.
On a funnier note I once saw a no trespassing sign, it read: Trespassers will be shot, survivors will be shot again!!! Done in jest of course.