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I don't mean to take any sides in any arguments, just relate a story I read some years ago.
The older gentleman writing the story was home alone in the upstairs bedroom in the middle of the night. His wife was out of town visiting family so the car was not in the driveway. He wakes up in the middle of the night to noises downstairs. He quietly picks up the phone to call 911 but the line is dead (cut).
He's scared to death but remembers dad's old shotgun in the closet, and quietly creeps over to find it. He hasn't looked at it in years and has no ammo. For some reason he decides to check it anyhow, and forgetting about being quiet he racks the pump. He freezes in fear, thinking here he is with an empty gun and now the bad guy will come up and get him.
The house is completely silent for a few moments, then a loud crash, clatter, crash downstairs, then nothing. The story goes that when he finally goes down to see, all his valuables are piled in a bag abandoned on the floor next to a puddle, and the largest window in the front room is busted out where the crook took the closest and quickest hasty exit.
True story? Probably not, but it is a nice feel-good bedtime tale.
I once knew a gunsmith who had a 55 gallon drum buried in his floor with the top sticking out. It was half full of sand and had a opening in the top with a thick piece of rubber with a small hole in the middle. He would stick the barrel in the hole and test fire anything, even big hunting rifles, right in the middle of town. It was pretty quiet too. I always wondered about the legality of that.
I have used one of these in the past...with high power rifles and all, in a major metro area. Usually perfectly legal in a gunsmith's shop.
Snail trap...but one could easily make something from scratch, with a bit of ingenuity.
