Look; I was bored. And what he said was just so damn ridiculous. Yes, he was trolling and yes I got sucked in. Don’t pretend it hasn’t happened to you. After half an hour or so my free time was gone so I moved on.
So what was this incredibly nonsensical argument he made?
Table of Contents
Shotguns are shitty for home defense.
I just found it hard to believe someone could say something so dumb. I asked him if he thought that a shotgun could not stop an attacker. He admitted that it could certainly do so. Which invalidated his whole argument. Still, he was a troll so what can you expect?
Had he been trying to have a civil conversation he may have said something like, “There are better options for home defense than a shotgun.” Reasonable people can disagree about that. I sometimes disagree with myself about that. I keep a loaded shotgun around. I also keep a loaded AR around. And a .40 S&W in my nightstand.
In my particular situation, the pistol would be my first choice. Over-penetration is a big concern for me. 00 Buckshot and 5.56 are right out unless a riot shows up on my street. I would like to test #4 buckshot for the shotgun to see if it would be better and as soon as I can find some of that I’ll do so. In the meantime, what I have is what I have and that 00 buckshot and slugs. Slugs are not exactly an improvement if you’re concerned with over-penetration.
Shotguns are awesome.
This argument did get me to thinking, however. Shotguns have been a primary defensive and hunting tool for centuries. They work great and always have. They are easily the most versatile of all firearms, especially if you have one that will take multiple barrels. My Mossberg has a 20″ barrel and full magazine tube. I also have a 28″ barrel for it. I’m not a bird hunter, but if I ever take up the practice I’m ready.
With slugs, I can even reach out a moderate distance with reasonable accuracy and kill a good sized animal. Deer, bear, whatever.
With the exceptions of long range shooting and concealed carry you can do almost anything with a shotgun. Even now I can generally find ammo for it. At least the major kinds: bird shot, 00 buckshot, and slugs. The price is higher than before but at least it’s there.
This shouldn’t be a consideration but it is: no one cares about your shotgun. People aren’t submitting bills to ban them. Bring up your AR and to some people you’re evil and only a bad day from shooting up something important. Shotgun? They couldn’t care less. Yes, some people are idiots.
The fact is that shotguns aren’t “cool.” AR’s are cool. AK’s. Other semi-auto rifles or handguns. Sadly, there is a segment of the gun world that judges a gun exactly the same way anti-gunners do: by appearance. One segment of the population is scared by things another segment finds sexy. Neither seems to realize that function matters, not appearance.
Awesome except for a couple things.
Recoil. Number one problem with shotguns because they have a lot of it. At least a 12 gauge does. I have nothing against a 20 gauge but they have most of the recoil but not all the effectiveness of a 12 gauge.
Fewer types of rounds are made for 20 gauge, as well. Which is a really big deal as I write this. There are other gauges but for general use, which includes defense, I don’t really think they matter. Unless it’s defense against snakes. In which case a .410 will do just fine. Even in a handgun.
For actual defense I doubt you’d notice it. You may have a sore shoulder later but that’s probably a reasonable trade-off to being alive. The problem with the recoil is that you may practice less than is prudent because you don’t want a sore shoulder.
Practice, practice, practice
Of course the old saw about how “you don’t have to aim a shotgun” is nonsense. The maximum range in my house is 10 yards. And very rare circumstances would have to happen to get out to that range. Out of my Mossberg the pattern of 00 buck is around 10″. At more realistic ranges it would be closer to 5″ or 6″. So yes. I can miss and I have to aim.
I shoot my shotgun regularly. I sometimes have a sore shoulder. The thing about over-penetration concerns is that they are mainly about misses. If I don’t miss then there aren’t going to be any pellets flying around to go through walls and windows and hurt people that I may like. Or at least people that aren’t trying to attack me so I have no reason to shoot them.
So: shitty or awesome?
