To anyone who's played The Division

Bought it when it first came out, but put it away b/c there were too many glitches....but now I started playing again, and am up to level 21. Question: how useful is having a shotgun as one of your weapons? So far, I've gotten by without using it yet...but now that I've gotten deeper into the game, some of these "boss" characters are getting tougher to take down. Apparently the shotgun yields a shite-ton of damage, but I imagine I'd have to practically get in his face to use it, for accuracy's sake. Is a shotgun the way to go, or are there other pointers someone can give me? Full disclosure: I'm not what you'd call a "master" at non-sports gaming, so apologies if my dilemma sounds stupid, lol...