Stranger at the door around 3 AM....

1) Contact your local authorities and express your concerns, if he is on your grandma's property without your consent or is making her distressed then make sure you get it to the local police department, if you believe that he should be taken like a threat then you are in your rights to do something about it. Ask them if they can have a Night Patrol car stop by the house every 30-40 minutes and if he begins to knocks more furiously and keeps at it, Then please by all means phone the Police and ask them to have a nearby unit to respond(Granted some Stations reaction time can be rather long depending, but if you make it sound urgent then you should expect ETA 5 Minutes). 2) Now since you are aware; that the Authorities can be sometimes slow and unreliable, i recommend you go spend the night and stand-guard or something and if you do make that intitial contact; You should go to the door and speak through the door with it locked asking what his intent is, If he doesn't reply then have the Authorities on stand-by.(Do no alert the intruder that you are contacting the police; otherwise he may take faster and more aggressive action or he may adjust his next move to compensate for them). 3) This is a more self-defensive method; granted if you posses any form of weaponry... A) Assuming you have something in the form of a blunt weapon or knife: Keep the phone with the Police on stand-by and either keep to the farthest side of the door and Repeat what i told you in option 2 (DO NOT STAND DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF IT)(Often if the person is armed and has hostile intent he may take your or your Grandmother's voice for confirmation of a target and might fire through the Door if your door is weak enough and if he has a round capable of penetrating), if he shoots or begins aggressive behavior and if he does have what seems to be a firearm- immediately run to the securest part of the house with the heaviest door or something you can barricade it with and Immediately call the police and give them the Situation, Name and Address. B) If presumably you have a firearm in-hand; then keep away from the door and Shout at him asking his intent, if he doesn't reply then warn him that you would like him to leave the premises and that he has a 10 second count to comply or you will take actions to defend yourself. Now under no-circumstances should you open that door for him, until you have confirmation that you know him and that he is not armed. Ask him to leave and come at another time during the day, if he does take further aggressive action then by all means defend yourself and your property but do not go outside, keep the doors locked and wait until he makes entry. Also alert the authorities immediately and give them your situation, address and name. it also doesn't hurt to record the encounter with a Voice -Recorder for evidence; since i know sometimes the law can be fickle about these type of scenario's. So with all this being said i think you get the idea... Mostly Burglars will often break into senior citizens homes because they believe that most are frail and weak, also they think they could get away with burglary and theft much easier then they would with a younger more able person. If you are interested in plan B then let me explain to you my understanding about good firearms: Before you even think about purchasing a gun, it is imperative that you are trained on how to properly use it. Remember: guns are a weapon. With the right to bear arms comes the heavy responsibility of handling them with the precaution and respect they deserve. There is no such thing as a dangerous gun, Only Dangerous handlers. I recommend a pistol since they are easy to handle and can be more useful than an AR-15 in a CQB environment; Better maneuverability. Whats a good pistol chamber? 9mm: Easy Recoil and they are good for defense, Cons: Depending on the Attacker it may take 2-3 rounds to incapacitate somebody, if you have poor bullet placement. but it varies honestly, Ask your Gun Store owner for a full description. also i hear you can pick up a box down there for about 20 dollars of 80 if you buy them cheap. 45. ACP: Pros: Stopping power, inexpensive and a lot of guns chamber this round. If you hit someone center mass with this bullet, they will drop. If they’re on drugs it’ll take maybe 2 shots. This is the round to stop someone with. Not much more I can say on it. Cons: As with the Magnums, the increased stopping power means increased recoil. this is not a round to hand to someone who’s never fired a gun before. One other point is that this bullet tends to start tumbling at around 75 yards which reduces its effective range quite a bit. For self defense It's pretty great! My favorite! These two caliber's are my favorite. But you should have a talk with your local gun-store. The cheapest while keeping good efficiency that i seen a 45. go for was about 120 Bucks in the US and for 9mm it's around the same if you buy your weapons cheap. Also you should practice Safe weapon handling, Maintenance and learning to combat misfeeds and malfunctions, but Safety is a first! Treat every gun as if it's loaded! You can take a few safety classes or watch a few video's online(Not recommended). Hope everything works out!