Reply #16: If it's for protection inside of the house

[moez]

I'd go for a shotgun hands-down. Aiming, shooting and actually hitting your target when you're scared in the middle of the night is difficult. With a shotgun, you aim in the general direction and.... boom. You're bound to hit a piece of them - plus it looks much more intimidating.

We've had a couple of people here in my town recently that successfully fended off home invaders with this approach. They just blasted toward the group, hit a couple in the leg and all of the bad guys scattered.