The retired contractor who was the target of a home invasion in San Leandro California had bad feet and could barely walk without assistance, according to his neighbor. That didn’t keep him from wielding a shotgun to defend his home and spouse against at least two and as many as four armed home invaders.

It’s too bad that he didn’t remember to load it first.

Police said around 12:45 a.m., a woman who lived inside the home on Lakeview Drive called 911 to report the home invasion.

Within two minutes, police were on scene and found a male resident suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest. At first officers thought the victim returned fire, but it was later determined that wasn’t the case.

“He did point the gun at the suspect with an intention to protect himself and his wife, but the shotgun was unloaded,” said San Leandro Police Lt. Mike Sobek.

“I know he had a gun in his bedroom because he told me if somebody comes in my door I’m going to shoot first and talk later,” said [neighbor Steve] Gavello.

Police believe the suspects shot the victim after he pointed the unloaded shotgun at them.

The man, who is in his 60s, is expected to survive his injuries. Investigators say surveillance video retrieved from the neighborhood leads them to believe this house wasn’t picked at random.

Folks, there are many different schools of thought regarding the best way to store a home-defense firearm. Whether you choose to store it locked in a fast-opening gun safe and loaded (my personal preference), unloaded with ammunition nearby, or some other method, you generally need to be able to bring it into action in less than ten seconds.

In this instance, we don’t know if the home owner had rounds in the magazine that he forgot to chamber or of his shotgun was completely empty. What we do know is that firearms without a cartridge in the chamber fails to fire 100% of the time.

Do not put yourself in a position where you’re left going “click” when your life depends on your gun going “bang.”

Please get professional defensive firearm training—we live in a golden age for self-defense training—and apply those skills towards setting up a specific and practiced home defense plan.

The home owner here, unfortunately, sounds like far too many gun owners. He thought that merely owning a gun prepared him.

It doesn’t.

Owning a gun without becoming skilled in it’s use is like buying a race car and declaring that you’re in NASCAR when you can’t tell the clutch from the brake.

You will not “rise to the occasion” under stress folks. Almost no one does.

You will default to your level of training and competence.

Pass on buying that next shiny new gun or optic, and instead, spend your money on a weekend defensive firearm training class.

You will not regret it.