+1 to what MoBOB and BobS suggest....
TheSock, the problem is most "smart" thieves will stake it out and wait until nobody is home. Then you get to lose the firearm AND a whole lot more. Once you get past the criminal kicking in the door of other criminals to rob them of drugs/money, "hot home invasions/burglaries", those that happen when the occupant is home, vastly decline because of the number of guns here in the US. Unlike other places where the criminal is actually protected by the "enlightend" thinking that "personal life/health" is more valued than "personal belongings". Even when said belongings aren't theirs. In these area a theif can kick open the door and rob you blind, because if you defend your property, you commit the more violent crime of assault and are the one going to jail for a longer time, after all the career criminal knows the system and will be out long before you are. And able to rob your now ungarded house and pawn your every possesion.

-Bill Liptak