If White had called the police, armed himself and stayed inside his house while waiting for the police and if then the boys had broken into his house and he had shot them he would not be going to prison.
In most states I would say "Absolutely!" but where he's living in New York he's still in violation of firearms ownership laws, which, although I vehemently disagree with their Constitutionality, are the local laws nonetheless. If you live in a given community you've got to understand that you must abide by the local laws....if you don't like it, then either change the laws or move to a more sane State or another community in New York State that doesn't have such draconian, illogical and unconstitutional laws on the books.
As far as the points you make outside of the firearms ownership issues, I agree 100%.