a lot of states have laws where you can legally kill someone on your property in "self defense" or whatever, so the fantasy is that you get to slaughter people on your property with no repercussions because "self defense". its basically like a testing ground for whatever cool new gun toy you got, rich white americans fantasize about testing their new insane weapons on "home invaders" (usually just any minority stepping on their property) because its legal.
It's like a more personalized preoccupation with DAE le post apocalypse and DAE le zombies. Burgerlanders really, really want a justification to kill someone and await that scenario the way a small child might await Santa Claus. 
I have like three people break into my house in the middle of the night, and in each case it turned out they were extremely drunk frat bros who were convinced that it was their friends house that they were trying to get to to crash at (I live near a university). I just tried to make sure they were alright and help them get to were they were trying to
that's really funny that that has happened multiple times ha ha.
Like a lot of US crime, not the worst in the world, but not great, and way lower than it was in the crime peak of the 80’s and early 90’s. Also worth noting that most home invasions occur during mid day hours when people are less likely to be home because burglars aren’t morons.
I don’t know why but home invasion is my biggest fear. I had nightmares for weeks after watching Gerald’s Game. For what it’s worth, in my nightmares, the perpetrator is always white, so I don’t think it’s strictly a racism thing.
I think part of it is we own so little in a capitalist society and it’s such a violent society, so your home can feel like your only safe space. Having that safety shattered would feel like the ultimate violation to me. And then as a woman, you add in the probability of sexual violence and it gets scarier. Also very afraid that people would kill my dogs, but cops would do that too.
I have moderate to severe anxiety and am pretty agoraphobic, so this might not be how normal people think.
the home is the most holy thing in american society. it's what their entire way of life is built around, millions upon millions of single-family homes with white picket fences. its complete insanity.
I have never experienced a home invasion but my friends were murdered in one. In the US.
But instead of everyone just conjecturing based on their subjective experience, why doesn’t someone look at the statistics? Should be easy enough.
Closest I ever got to home invasion was when a drunk guy wandered into my house from a street festival. When he realised were he was, he very sheepishly apologised and left.
Suburban paranoia
It's part of the rugged individualism and personal responsibility narrative. It feeds into the atomization of people in the US.
Nobody is going to help you and you don't want to rely on the government to save you. It's your neighbor who's going to steal everything you have if given the chance. Other people are jealous of what you have. If you don't lock your door or buy a security system, it's your fault if something bad happens.
And like others have said in this post, there's the fantasy of being able to use your guns in a legal way. You get to do acceptable violence and you prove that you were right for not trusting people if somebody breaks in.
But another aspect of this fear is whether you're part of a marginalized group. If you're Black in a white neighborhood, you can't rely on the police and you might not be able to rely on your neighbors to have your back.
There's a lot of fucked up unconscious things going on in US society.
We ate absolutely terrified of an unknown black or brown person sitting in their car or walking through our neighborhood. Idk if they limit what you can view but you should check out nextdoor.com for some insight into the insanity.
Meanwhile I've left the door unlocked every place I've lived with only one exception.
A lot of people have lethal "main character of the movie" brain. Or it's a cipher for racism (conscious or unconscious). Often times both.
I had a coworker that was scared of this so he had tens of thousands of dollars in guns. He used to brag about it all the time. He was robbed because he had tens of thousands in guns that everyone knew about because he bragged about them all the time. Had he been home having a big pile of guns would have done him no good.
Having lots of guns does nothing unless you have lots of hands to hold the guns which is why the prepper zeal for owning tons of guns in case things get crazy, is hilarious.
racism and fantasies of getting to kill said races
I blame ring doorbells
Gotta love the surveillance industry 
a lot of people say that a shotgun is the best tool for the job, but honestly what you need is armor piercing rounds. preferably in a handgun format since you'd ostensibly be dealing with the close quarters of a tiny apartment. honestly, if they don't have armor on you can probably just talk to them if this imaginary scenario happens at all.
If somebody has broken into your apartment wearing armor they're a cop or soldier and you're not shooting your way out of this one. IMO a rifle (short carbine length ideal) is better than a pistol. They're much easier to aim under adrenaline. 9mm and 5.56 can both kill someone on the other side of a wall if you miss; I'm not convinced any choice* offers meaningfully reduced overpenetration. You know your apartment's layout and a robber does not, so you shouldn't need to be rapidly spinning around or clearing rooms CQB style.
More important by far is getting a weapon light 1) so you're not shooting blind 2) so, ideally, you dazzle whoever you're pointing it at and don't have to shoot them. Mine is physically-hurts-your-eyes bright. In the extremely unlikely event of a breakin by somebody armed, I can't imagine anyone successfully aiming at me if I get the drop on them with the flashlight. In the comparatively-more-likely event of a breakin by somebody unarmed, the weapon light helps me identify that and not shoot them.
*e: including shotguns. American walls are made out of paper and chalk, and also shotgun spread is not significant at sub-apartment distances like in video games
Lots of gun owners want literally nothing more than to have a justifiable reason to kill somebody.
In their mind somebody breaking into their house means they get to use any amount of force they can muster.
My old boss literally would talk about how he leaves his door unlocked because "if they get passed the dogs then they have me to worry about"
And I'd like to see what a burgler would do to an out of shape 70 year old who fell asleep drunk in his recliner at 10 o clock with fox news playing loudly on the TV.
No, not really.
The closest I've come to a "home invasion" was these two girls in my neighborhood, around 14 or so, would target single guys in the neighborhood and walk into their homes and take whatever they wanted and then tell the dudes that if they said anything they'd basically tell everyone that they were there because the guy lured them into their homes to assault them. They did this to like, 2 guys, one being the guy who lived in an apartment next to my father's house. He was a younger Latino man, possibly an illegal immigrant so I can imagine him being freaked the fuck out by this with no recourse. This was about 20 years ago. IIRC I think they eventually fucked up and tried it once when one of the men had a girlfriend or something over and she wasn't about it. Not sure if they were arrested or just got slapped up a bit by a very angry woman but I just know it stopped.
Anyways, a gun would not have helped in this situation and while those girls were absolute fools and did not realize that their little scheme could have ended very poorly for them they wouldn't have deserved to die for what they did. Whenever I think about crime & punishment vs community-based solutions I always think there are a least a dozen community-based solutions to that issue that far outshine any traditional crime and punishment solution.
On the other side of things for new year's even of 2000 my friends and I had a fun psychedelic party at his apartment building. One friend about 3 hours after taking 4 hits of LSD walks out of the apartment. This surprised us because for the past hour he had been laying in a bean bag twitching and mumbling to himself and we only figured it out because suddenly he wasn't there anymore and the front door was open. The rest of us, also out of our gourds, go looking for him. Turns out he walked down the hall and into another apartment that was unlocked. He was just standing in the dark in their front room spaced the fuck out. We quietly grabbed him and ushered him out closing the door behind us. The people in that apartment never knew.
The closest I've come to a "home invasion" was these two girls in my neighborhood, around 14 or so, would target single guys in the neighborhood and walk into their homes and take whatever they wanted and then tell the dudes that if they said anything they'd basically tell everyone that they were there because the guy lured them into their homes to assault them.
Holy shit this actually happened? It reads like an MRA fever dream
The idea of a home invasion allows Americans to fantasize about murdering the invaders of "their sacred property" and getting away with it. It also incorporates the idea of shooting someone to death as well for that added second amendment veneration.
When I was growing up, there was a couple a street over from me. Nice area too.
Definitely made me paranoid as a kid, but I'm also incredibly paranoid of a house fire. I genuinely feel like if all my important shit burned up I'd probably unalive myself over going through the hoops to prove I'm allowed to rent an apartment.
Also still paranoid about someone breaking into my place. I've got a handful of items that are irreplaceable and not that valuable and idk if I could forgive someone for stealing it then trashing it for an easy buck or two.
I did have a drunk guy walk into my apartment and fall asleep on the floor one time in college. That was weird but funny, very obviously another student. just sorta nudged him and he went on his way.
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