I spent a fair bit of time in Hemet in my youth.
A man has every right defend his castle and a .22 will probably get it done 99% of the time. No AR needed until the Zombie Appocolypse occurs.
While most times just the display of a firearm will do but if you want to run with a .22LR it's your life.
Don't get me wrong: I'm not saying a .22LR pistol is the ideal weapon for home defense. But it can still kill a man plenty dead and has long been popular with hit men has it not? Once I was shooting 00 buck at watermelons in the woods near where @puppylove_sugarsteel resides. Picked up a cheap .22 semi auto pistol in the same session and almost felt that in the middle of the night getting out of bed I'd stand a better chance grabbing a .22 just popping off 10 rounds into a burglar vs getting the scatter gun deployed quickly.
All this said, I am not an expert and probably full of shit here.