re: Pistol or shotgun - home protection

Interested to get El Segundo's take on this.

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shot a pumpkin in the face at about 10ft and told him that’s what his or my face would look like if he had a “accident”

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My dad showed us with a .22 and a unopened can of red cream soda. That can blew red soda about 20 feet in the air.

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But whatever you get, make sure go to the range and actually practice.

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And practice weak hand with your pistol. Murphy's Law says you are going to get shot in your strong side hand/arm with the first round.

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have a pistol. 20+1 with an extra mag, and a flashlight. Locked in my bed side safe. Best combination for me in regards to safety, maneuverability, etc.

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Yeah the reality of it is I’m probably only going to check out what the dog is barking at and it’s nothing or there is a car stopped on the road with his lights out and it’s kids and they have a flat. A pistol is perfect for that.
Now if it’s a John wick situation then I will have my 6.8ar slung across my body with my Glock 17 in my holster and my Glock 43x inside my pants holster and my #2 pencil inside my sock.
I don’t know where some of these people live or why they think so many people want to take them out.

Anything that is a reliable defensive weapon is going to penetrate home walls and be potentially lethal to whoever is on the other side.

Personally, I dont really think overpenetration is a talking point at all. If you're going to have a firearm as a plan to deal with an emergency in a crowded home, you need to identify what are the shoot and no shoot angles, everyone aware to stay where they are and not move, be DAMNED sure you actually need to shoot, etc etc.

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Pistol easier to handle, but shotgun makes accuracy a little easier…

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There's a lot to unpack here, and honestly we don't have enough information to give an adequate answer. Every home, family, and layout is different, so there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. Before you settle on any weapon, walk your home and answer these questions:

Who’s sleeping where?
Where are you likely to engage a threat?
What’s behind each wall or door?

This is critical if you have kids or other family members in adjacent rooms. Know your sight lines. I’ve done “nighttime walk-throughs” with a flashlight thinking about where rounds would end up if a rounded ended up somewhere unintended under stress. Our house is laid out where our bedroom is on one side of the house and the kid's in on the other. In between is the great room and front and back door (most likely entry points.) Long, long ago, I asked a guy with kids who'd also been a special operator about it. He said, "Aim for the head (above the height of the kids) and hope the bullets don't tumble too much." Now that the kid is taller than his mom, that's not really valuable advice anymore.

I'll add this. Accuracy matters more than caliber. Any firearm has the ability to be deadly if you hit the right spots.

As for the choices.

AR-15 Platform: Great ergonomics, low recoil, and good accuracy—especially under stress. Contrary to common belief, certain 5.56 defensive loads (like Hornady TAP or Speer Gold Dot) actually penetrate less through drywall than handgun rounds or buckshot. And they tend to fragment quickly. High Capacity.

Downsides: Size in tight hallways/Spaces. Accessibility in time sensitive situations (can you keep it secure AND accessible?)

Handgun (9mm, .45, etc.): Compact, quick to access, and easy to store securely. Best if you need to maneuver through the house or potentially carry a child. High Capacity.

Downsides: Handguns require the most training to shoot accurately under pressure, and typical defensive rounds can easily pass through multiple walls.

Shotgun (12ga or 20ga): Massive stopping power.

Downsides: Recoil, muzzle flash and limited capacity. Slower to reload after empty. High overpenetration potential, esp at close ranges.

ETA: No matter what you get, consider a laser. Not for aiming, but as a deterrent. I've heard Jocko Willink say that even though they had IR lasers on their weapons that they could see with NVG's they ended up putting red dots back on. Why? Because EVERYONE knows what a red dot in the middle of their chest means.

One more thing that is not talked about enough on here and often overlooked: Your firearm should be your last line of defense, not your first. Worst case scenario is waking up to someone ALREADY in your home. They should never get that far. A few smart upgrades can stop most threats before they ever get to the door. That being said, if someone wants something you have, or wants to do you harm, they will find a way.

Exterior Lighting – Motion-activated LEDs covering the driveway, backyard, and side yards are cheap and way more effective than people give them credit for. Most bad guys aren’t looking for a spotlight to bring attention to them. .

Security Cameras – I have 16 hardwired cameras around my home. They are always on, and always recording. Doesn’t stop anything on its own, but it gives me a heads-up before someone gets to the door. All of them have build in AI that detects people, vehicles and pets. I have a couple of critical ones that cover key parts of my property to turn on a spotlight and alarm if it detects a human after hours. Additionally, if something does happen, it’s nice to have video for the police and insurance.

Reinforced Entry Points: Door frame reinforcement kits (like Door Armor or StrikeMaster). Replace short screws with 3" ones in every door hinge and strike plate. Pin locks or security bars on sliding glass doors. If you’ve got windows near doors, think about adding security film—it won’t make them unbreakable, but it’ll slow someone down

Even the basic DIY alarm kits (Ring, SimpliSafe, etc.) are worth it just for the noise and delay. I have my ring doorbell programed to turn on the inside foyer lights if it detects someone at our front door after 10:30 pm.

And a dog is still one of the best deterrents around. Doesn’t have to be big—just loud and noisy.

Just a few thoughts to add to the discussion...

Theyre still pretty damned long. An 18.5" mossberg is a good 2+" longer than an AR15 with a 16" barrel and the stock in the middle position.

Ill say it in a different way: a shotgun is a piss poor choice for a dedicated home defense against bad people weapon. Even the best semi auto short barrel shotgun (read: M4) is so vastly more difficult to effectively use than a basic ar15 and vastly more expensive.


A shotgun is great if thats what you have, but if you're going out to get the perfect home defense weapon, it isnt any shotgun.

-20 ga with 3" #2s standing in between the bed and nightstand

- 10mm with tlr1 loaded with Buffalo Bores in the nightstand

-Suppressed 300blk with thermal for good measure in master's closet steps away that has a bird's eye of the vehicles.


It's a very relative, subjective question that only a responsible, realistic gun owner can answer: urban, suburban or rural? How many occupants and where? Points of entry and exit and where? What's on the property and can it be stolen? Does state law allow lethal force to keep it from being stolen? How big is the property, etc.? There's no one size fits all.