Your New Year’s Home Resolution: Install or upgrade your security system.

Gun ownership comes with grave responsibilities and may not be for everyone. Pull a gun only if you are trained to use it. Practice shooting with both eyes open—depth perception and peripheral vision are needed in an actual gunfight.

and make sure to tell your family or roommates so they know where to go in a crisis. The room should have a landline phone, a flashlight, and, if you own one, a firearm. Mount doors on hinges that swing out; they are harder to breach than those that swing in.

A gun safe should have rubber buttons because, according to Gun For Hire instructor and police detective John McAloon, “biometric safes can fail if your fingers are sweaty or covered in blood.” Instead of a weapon-mounted flashlight, keep a spare handheld light to avoid pointing a gun at neighbors, family members, or cops.

Use-of-force laws differ by state: In New Jersey, you can shoot only if there is no escape route or if someone else is threatened; in Ohio, it’s legal to shoot trespassers just for being there. “Every bullet you fire comes with a lawyer attached,” says Joe Sente, a police officer and Gun For Hire instructor. Check your state attorney general’s website for details.