Many years ago while the earth was still cooling, I took the instructor course for the NRA's Personal Protection In The Home class. Interestingly enough, the NRA still teaches that class- see
http://www.nrahq.org/education/train...ictraining.asp for links to a course description, as well as a locator tool to see if anyone is teaching the class near you.
If you can't get to a live class, see
http://materials.nrahq.org/go/produc...tid=ES%2026840 to get the classroom portion on DVD. For the textbook, see
http://www.nrastore.com/nra/Product....oductid=PB+017 . The class is IMHO the best and most widely available introduction to the topic of home defense I know of.
hth,
lpl