ALWAYS BANG BANG; NEVER JUST BANG
Two shots could save your life during a home invasion

I was 23 the first time I pulled a gun in self defense. It was past 2 a.m., and I was lying on an air mattress in the living room of my very pregnant sister�s house watching a Nip/Tuck marathon. It was one of those windy Vegas nights, the kind that bends trees to the ground and whips dirt devils down the roads. We were alone; her husband was at work, and we were delightfully creeped out by the blustery weather and unnecessarily gory surgery scenes. 

Then we heard someone trying to come in through the garage. My first instinct was to cover my head and wait for whatever was coming through that door to go away. I�d grown up with people dying, dying, to protect me, and I knew even my slick older sister would bust a cap if Baby Bliss was in trouble. 

But that night, my damn sister was too round to be effective (or even get up from the air mattress), and I realized that not only did I have to protect myself, I had to protect her (and my future niece) as well. In less than a second, I was up and running for her nightstand (open any Esposito nightstand and you�ll be sure to find a handgun), and I had her .38 in my hands. I came around the corner in time to see her Barney-Rubble-running, socks slick against the tile, to get behind me. I aimed the gun. We both froze. The door came crashing open. 

�What?� said my wide-eyed brother-in-law from the doorway. He was balanced on a pair of crutches and his foot was wrapped in an ace bandage. �You�re gonna shoot me now?� 

Maybe I overreacted. I did pull a gun on my sister�s injured husband. However, it never hurts to be prepared, and I was glad that in such an experience, I didn�t completely shut down like I initially wanted to. A break-in is a terrifying experience, and you never quite know how you will act until you�re in the situation. Therefore, it�s important to prepare both physically and mentally for such an event. These quick tips will hopefully help keep you safe. 

Role-play. You can�t pull a gun in a crisis if you�ve never picked it up before or thought out a plan of action. What would you do if someone came in through the window, the back door or the garage with the intention of hurting you or your loved ones? I lay in bed sometimes plotting my course: where I would hide, from where I would fire? These were the kinds of things I practiced instead of my multiplication tables growing up. 

Lock windows and doors. This should be an easy one, but keep your place locked up tight, including your bedroom door at night. It can help discourage an attack, but will also give you time to call 9-1-1 and/or lock and load. 

Call out before you fire. Don�t get trigger happy. A quick, �Freeze or I�ll blow your head off!� should do the trick. It offers a would-be attacker enough prompting to either identify themselves as someone you don�t want to shoot (your brother-in-law, for instance) or, if you�re convincing, scare them enough to make them take off. 

Always bang bang, never just bang. If you do ever get into situation where you actually need to fire on someone, don�t be nice. Protecting yourself is probably why you bought the gun in the first place. In a heightened state, your aim will be off and depending on what you�re firing, one shot might not be enough to stop someone. So squeeze the trigger and squeeze it again. Mama may have told you that two wrongs won�t make a right, but two shots could save your life.