Should I get a pistol or shotgun for home defense and shooting range?
Both have their roles in home defense. The shotgun’s role is holding down the fort such as a safe room where only one door has to be guarded. The handgun’s role is searching the home, gathering family, etc. A handgun requires one hand to operate making it usable while on the phone with police, finding family, holding a flashlight, opening doors, etc. A shotgun would have to be lowered to make one hand usable. Also the handgun does not need to be lowered or raised to look around corners (you would not want to have the barrel of a shotgun peak around the corner giving away or position and then stick your head out). A handgun also gives less to the intruder to grab onto if they get close enough to grapple with you and the weapon. A shotgun will give him or her more to hold onto. If you are going to buy one or the other I would start with the pistol and then buy the shotgun. I would also look at other options for the handgun. Glock make good guns but not good for first-time buyers. I would
