In message , Stephen Harding
writes
I have no intention of shooting anyone.

Agree fully with Stephen on this: back when I was a pistol shooter I
cheerfully massacred hordes of cardboard silhouettes with no intention
of finding live targets, and that applied to everyone I knew who shot:
we enjoyed socialising while turning live rounds into empty cases, and
trying to improve our grouping or our course times or both.

Massachusetts
law doesn't let you off the hook if you shoot someone
that has broken into your home. You are required to
leave the premises if escape is possible.

As a side note, in the UK "duty of retreat" doesn't apply in your home:
you're allowed to use whatever means are reasonable and necessary to
defend yourself if attacked there.


--
When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite.
W S Churchill

Paul J. Adam MainBoxatjrwlynch[dot]demon{dot}co(.)uk