02-24-2017, 12:40 PM
(02-24-2017, 12:30 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: The shotgun in the home is partially about over-penetration, but it is also about ease of use. Best home defense scenario is to get family in one room, behind barricade, and if someone comes through the door you fire into it. Shotgun will fill the opening with pellets. A rifle, especially in a high-adrenaline situation with your typical untrained civilian, runs the risk of not hitting the mark. Even if you aren't able to get into that defensive posture, the spread from a shotgun still affords someone a better chance of hitting their target.
I mean, ten years ago when I was doing this sort of thing there was a pretty good consensus on it. Shotgun was the top home defense weapon. Not sure what has changed, really.
Quite a bit actually. There is no consensus on what is best and you'll find a lot of people who find the shotgun less practical than an AR. You'll find a lot of argument on whether it's better to use 00 buck or #8 birdshot as well. It's no different than the caliber wars that are unending and likely to remain so. What can't be disputed, and why the AR for home defense argument exists, is the one stop incapacitating power of a rifle round over a hand gun. One need look no further than the FBI shoot out that prompted the adoption of the 10mm cartridge as an example. The suspect was hit early in the exchange by a 100% lethal 9mm round, meaning the wound was going to absolutely cause his death. He was able to continue firing back for some time.
You did highlight something that deserves further mention, the "untrained civilian". No one who owns firearms should be untrained. I'd be willing to wager heavily that your standard AR owner is much better trained on the use of their firearms than the average gun owner who owns a pistol or two and a shotgun. Regardless, gun owner and untrained don't belong together.
