[g.willikers]

We're talking dire straights here, without being able to use the ideal weapon, under the circumstances.
It's been established that a firearm is out of the question.
And if there's an intruder in your house, the situation has already been escalated.

Sometimes you gotta' go with the odds, and the odds say the presence of a deadly weapon, or what appears to be, causes a cease of activities most of the time.
But whatever saves the day, conventional or not.
I know an older lady who would never carry a gun, but instead has a small air horn in her purse.
At close range that thing is nasty and definitely disrupting.

People aren't deprived of defensive tools just because they can't use a firearm.
There's lots of choices that wouldn't put innocents at risk.
Clubs, swords, all kinds of old fashioned stuff that have worked for centuries.

I still like the airgun in this particular situation.
It looks the part and to some degree can be effective.
You really do not want to get hit with a herd of lead pellets at 450 f/s.
(By gawd they can put your eye out - and some holes in other uncomfortable places, too.)
And they're not likely to get loose out into the world, either.
But like I said, it's just a thought.
You won't hurt my feelings by rejecting it.

Personally, if all I had to defend us was my trusty and very accurate pellet gun, I wouldn't feel defenseless.
After all, there's truth to the old adage, "The weapon is the least of it."
Ranks right up there with "I am the weapon, the gun is the tool."