It must be a bit bracing to be home when a bad guy is trying to break into your house. I don’t worry about such things myself. I have a ferocious golden retriever guarding my castle.

Not everyone is so fortunate, nor are they as likely to be constantly picking dog hair off their pants, but I digress.

According to a story in the Calgary Sun, “police believe the homeowner went to a basement window when a man smashed through it Monday night, and threatened the would-be intruder to stay out.

“It is alleged a short time later, after getting ammunition, the (homeowner) returned to the window and fired a .22-calibre rifle several times, but the suspect had already fled on a bike.

“Gary Paul Bucci, 68, is charged with unsafe storage of firearm and careless use of firearm.”

Ahh, but things are never as straightforward as they seem. The story goes on to say the alleged bad guy was already in court for attacking a woman in the house.

So, was it wrong for Bucci to squeeze off a few rounds, as it’s alleged, after buddy had taken off? Maybe, but let’s not judge too quickly. There is a larger issue here.

The real crime is Bucci had to go find his ammunition while an accused violent intruder was trying to come through his basement window.

In Canada, your ammunition is supposed to be stored in a separate place from your firearms, which have to be locked up in a government-approved gun safe.

So, if you are a firearms owner, and you follow all the storage rules, an intruder instantly has a huge advantage.

If he enters at night, you might be able to stab the bad guy with the key to your gun locker. Perhaps you could swat him with the voluminous set of rules that firearms owners must follow.

The common sense thing to do is to keep a loaded shotgun beside your bed.

Some slimeball has already attacked a woman in the house. You know there’s a high likelihood that he’ll come back.

If he does, you also know there’s no way the police are going to arrive until after said slimeball has left a lot of blood on the floor.

The UN won’t protect you.

There’s no time to search for the root causes of violence. In a situation like that, it’s either self-protection or it’s no protection at all, and it’s just not good enough to lay in bed with a set of keys under your pillow.

In Bucci’s case, he hobbled over on 68-year-old, busted-up knees to try to protect a woman who had already been attacked once.

He was lucky his warning to stay out and his unloaded .22 rifle were enough to put the run on the aforementioned slimeball.

It could have turned out much differently.

I’ve got an idea. Instead of charging Bucci, how about we give him a medal for being man enough to put himself between a thug and a frightened victim.

Then let’s talk about how our firearm storage laws tilt the field in favour of violent criminals.