Among the masses of men in cowboy hats and steely-eyed women in "Babes with Bullets" T-shirts at the Crossroads of the West Gun Show in Glendale, a petite, suburban mom with a blond bob, yoga pants, and a Prada purse wanders from booth to booth picking through rhinestone-studded Glocks, gas masks, and camouflage suits.

Becky Sutton had been thinking about buying a gun for months, ever since her neighbors discovered a stranger in the living room of their Glendale two-story. The guy had scaled the fence, slunk past the dog, and sauntered straight through the back door. It was unlocked because her friends were, she says, eyes wide, dropping each word one at a time like pebbles into a pool, "Right. There. In. The. House."

When she drove past a billboard advertising the gun show, she figured, what better place to learn about defending her family?

But here now, faced with row upon row of pistols and ammunition, she's overwhelmed. She texts an in-the-know friend: "Clips? Magazines? Ammo? WTF?"