"Just our womenfolk".(Exercising The Right)

At around 9 p.m. on February 6, Rancho Cordova, California, resident Carolyn Lisle and three friends were watching television in the living room of Lisle's home. When they heard strange noises near her sliding glass door, a male guest went to investigate. Lisle, however, hurried to a back room and retrieved one of her two .357-caliber handguns.

It turned out that an intruder, William Kriske, was trying to enter through the sliding door. When Kriske shattered the glass and entered the room, the male guest and the other two female friends fled, but Lisle stood her ground. She emptied her gun at Kriske, who crashed through a window to escape. None of the bullets struck him.

Kriske then went to Lisle's garage, where he began tearing things up before breaking through a garage window and again moving toward the house. In the meantime, Lisle had fetched her other gun, and as Kriske approached the front door she opened fire a second time, this time wounding him in an arm.

Scurrying across the street, the injured mall attempted ...