Suseonline,
You're looking at it the wrong way.
If you're a White woman in the U.S and a Black man is in your house without permission it's shoot or be raped, killed or both. Looking at it logically if he chased after them instead of running away when he realised there were people at home then he clearly intended to do them harm.
There was a similar case a while back in Henderson NC, a 14 year old boy shot and killed one of a group of Black male intruders in defence of his older sister:
www.wral.com/news/local/story/10578456/
If they'd got inside the house you know what would have happened, you wouldn't have heard of Emily Haddock, because when Blacks kill Whites it's a "Hush Crime", can you imagine the media outcry if this races in this situation were reversed, if a 12 year old black child had been murdered in by a gang of White men:
www.sullivan-county.com/racism/emily_haddock.htm

Jay, we weren't discussing race issues here.
If ANY man broke into my house, I would be terrified, no matter what colour he was.

I would also worry that if I had a gun, he would somehow get it off me and use it on me!
However , if I had a gun capable of shooting many rounds quickly, I could kill the guy and shoot up the whole room as well with multiple bullets...sounds great...

I might just mosey on over to the US of A and purchase a weapon of mass destruction, just in case I ever do have a burglar...

I was just wondering whether this woman and / or her husband were members of the National Rifle Association?
Or am I being too cynical?

By the way, those suggesting the woman should have had a 'bigger' gun should know that Atlanta has gun laws stating they are only allowed a handgun.
http://crime.about.com/od/gunlawsbystate/p/gunlaws_ga.htm

Hang those citizens high, eh Suseonline. How dare that mother defend herself and her brood. Got to be a NRA 'redneck' for sure. Husband too!

Just wondering though, if that offender had been there to rob the place why did he use a crow bar to break the door? Crude and noisy, splintering of timber and breaking door hardware. The modus operandi of a burglar is to escape being seen. Why didn't he grab what he could and leave if he though there was someone in the loft crawl space? Why did he go looking for the mum and children? Why didn't he shout "I give up" and put his hands in the air?

Burglars watch target houses to case them out. He is very likely to have known the family's habits.

He would have been charged with what the police could prove.

Susie,
As I read those regulations.

It seems a permit is only required to carry a handgun, one does not need a permit to buy, posses or carry any other firearm.

So the woman could quite easily aquire a bigger gun.

"""
I don't believe the penalty for breaking and entering or burglary should be death by firing squad without a trial.
"""
I agree with you a 100% here. But as you stated: she was put in a terrifying position. Do you agree that having the gun in her home saved her and her daughters from a potentially more horrifying experience?

"""
In Australia you are only allowed to take reasonable force to protect your home in a break in, so if this burglar had died, the woman may well have been charged with murder.
"""
Potentially she could have been attending her own funeral and that of her daughters. Which would you choose?

"""
I would hate to see a society that let it's citizens take law matters into their own hands, especially a shoot first, ask ...
"""
This is not about society shooting first and asking questions later. This is about having the right to protect your family from an intruder that would do you grave harm, which is on the increase in this country. Australians are prime targets for home invasion. Our right to defend ourselves has been taken away by a foolish minority with no regard to how some of us might feel about that. They have decided for us whether we should choose the well being of ourselves and our families over the well being of a violent intruder into our homes.

Did you know that woman cannot carry mace or pepper spray in Victoria now? So now young girls are made prisoners in their own towns. My 17 year old daughter constantly being harassed by a certain middle eastern element who have no respect for woman, needs a body guard to attend school and work, she cannot use trains or buses. She can't even walk to the local milk bar without an escort. Is this the kind of society you envisioned we'd have with the right to protect ourselves decided by someone else? Who by the way are escorted around by body guards carrying guns!