The 20 Gauge shotgun is in the middle of ‘power’ among the commonly-available shotguns. 12 Gauge shotguns are powerful but not everyone is physically capable of dealing with the recoil and subsequently shooting accurately. 410 Bore shotguns are shootable by anyone but there are simply not enough shot pellets per shell to allow for any leeway in aim error. Great 20 gauge shotguns are made by Remington and Mossberg among many others and are very affordable self defense firearms.

My home defense firearm is a 20 gauge shotgun. When I used to live in a ‘bad neighborhood’ my home defense firearm was an AR-15. This neighborhood looked ’ok’ during the day, but became way too ’active’ when the sun went down. The majority of shots inside of a dwelling will take place at close distances. Distances so close that the compensation for aim error that makes shotguns famous … is virtually negligible as the shot pellets do not have enough time to spread out. When the target is struck, the shot pellets will then spread out more rapidly and this is a very positive occurrence for increasing hit probability. The benefit in using shotguns instead of rifles inside of crowded areas is that in the case of a miss, or an over-penetration of the target by the pellets, the shot pellets will travel through fewer objects than a single rifle bullet at 3000 ft/sec is capable of. Having narrowly dodged a robbery and a home invasion in the span of a month, I decided that my security situation at the time overrode any concerns of overpenetration. This is how the rifle made its appearance until I moved the following month.

Your mileage will vary, but if you go with a shotgun, allow me to suggest the 20 gauge as it is usable by almost any member of the household due to the moderate recoil.