Good points Anna. I keep one close also. Snakes , good point I ended the year killing 7 copperheads within 20 feet of my home. Crows in the garden , yotes the list goes on.
The sight of a shotgun is often enough to stop an attack. True story , back in the early 80's A firend and I would ride down to the coast and pier fish all night. We got off from work about 330 and would head down about 6 in the evening . It was abot 2 hours to a good fishing pier. Well we are going down the interstate , I'm in the left lane , We have the windows down. Keep in mind both of us are plumbers/pipefitters. This guy pulls up along side in a small car we are in a truck . He points a really little pistol at us and says pull over . Well back then we had about 16 inches of 3/4" steel pipe on the seat for protection. My buddy slips the end of it between his arm and the window frame . The guy jerks the sterring wheel , loses control and hits a curb bounces over it tearing up the under side of his car and comes to a stop aginst the pillars of a bridge . He gets out and salutes us with one finger. We caught a ton of fish also.