There was a local guy killed here a couple of years ago defending his wife and relatives with a handgun. You Bay Area people already know the story.
The guy was a Chinese doctor living in Alamo (who, by the way, had one of the few CCWs in the area. Friends with the Sheriff -- contributes lots of money). One afternoon he had some furniture delivered to his home in Alamo, a wealthy suburb in Contra Costa. The delivery guys were two Asian gang-banger types. They scoped out his home while they were there and a few days later, returned to rob the place. So, they come up to the door in the middle of the day and ring the bell. The housekeeper recognized them, but wouldn't let them in at first. They convinced her they needed to have the doc sign some papers, so she finally let them in. Once inside, they pull guns and start screaming for money, etc. The wife starts screaming, so the doc comes running downstairs with his 357, firing as he goes (I believe) and all hell breaks loose. When it's all said in done, one bad guy is dead, the doc is dead, and another bad guy is near death. The latter bad guy was only wounded, but while he was trying to crawl out the front door the wife grabbed a cast iron frying pan and almost beat him to death with it. Watch out for those Chinese women. :)
The Chinese guy was known to be a bragger. He wore lots of diamond and gold rings, expensive braclets, bragged about his income and his CCW permit, drove expensive cars, etc. Just about the antithesis of the "walk softly and carry a big stick" motto. I guess he made a good impression on the gang-bangers. Anyway, he did everything wrong.
The point I'm making, if any, is the guy was not armed the way he should be. He started firing from the top of the stairs and by the time he got to the bottom he ran out of ammo and was a sitting duck.
I also believe in the top of the stairs position, but in my case the weapon of choice is an AR with 30-round mags. I don't necessarily believe in "spray and pray", but sometimes the extra firepower can be a life saver.