Rather paralyze somebody than kill them? Shoot low.

In all actuality, I believe it's something like 3% of gunshot wounds are fatal. Just like The Redneck said, the vast majority of gunshot victims do not die.

Your info on tranqs, although somewhat accurate, is out of context. You're thinking of interveinous general anesthetic. Needle goes straight into the vein, drugs only travel a foot or two to the heart. And even then, there are usually a couple seconds before it kicks in--I've heard of people being told to count down from 10 and getting to 7. But as for being stuck with a tranq, it has to get to a blood vessel first, which would usually take a few seconds before it started kicking in and distorted the intruder's aim, vision, etc. Most likely, the guy would still have at least a good five seconds to do whatever he wanted.

Tranqs are just inaccurate by nature. They've got to have enough power to penetrate, but they've also got to have a design that won't make them fall out of who/whatever is stuck. And, they've got to be heavy, because they're carrying quite a bit of drugs in 'em.

Everybody having a gun would make a difference, but it wouldn't stop home invasion crimes entirely. If everybody used their guns, that would make it stop entirely.

Records show that the easier it is to obtain a concealed weapons permit, the lower the violent crime rate is. Nobody wants to mug a guy who's got a .45 tucked away.