jekla, . . . let me echo an old military axiom: under fire, under stress, you will do what you are trained to do.
That said: if you don't have any training, . . . you will try to figure out what you should do and it most likely will be too late to do anything.
If you train to do something, . . . you will be farther ahead.
If you really want to defend yourself & your family, you need to look ahead to the scenarios most likely to confront you, . . . walk through them with your family as to how to respond, . . . and train in those responses.
The classic case was in Miami several years ago when a bunch of federal narc guys got blown away, . . . several of them had empty brass in their hands because they were trained to save their brass when in shooting classes. Their training took over and got them killed.
Train effectively, . . . ardently, . . . positively, . . . and remember it is far better to train for something which never occurs, . . . than to have something occur for which you are not trained.
May God bless,
Dwight