Home Defense, Part 2 -- The Shotgun

by Ben Small

Assuming you've decided a home defense gun makes sense, what gun should you choose?

I don't think anyone argues with the notion that the best home defense weapon is a shotgun, but that begs the question. What type of shotgun, what size shell, what size ammo?

Shotgun gauges vary inversely to number progression. So the larger the gauge number, the smaller the bore. Doc Holliday carried a 10 gauge at the OK Corral, a cannon rarely seen today. For a guy as skinny as the sickly Doc, his shoulder must have been numb for days. A 12 gauge has a smaller bore diameter than a 10 gauge, and 16, 20, 28 and the .410 gauges have respective still smaller bores. The most popular shotgun gauge today remains the 12, however, anything larger than a .410 will provide ample home defense protection. While the Taurus Judge has made the .410 shell -- a round once believed to be mostly obsolete -- popular,  the .410 is generally not recommended for home defense. It's just not accurate beyond ten feet.

Choose your shotgun gauge by considering your size and age, not to mention level of comfort. The older you are, the less tolerant your shoulder will be. Any gauge other than a .410 is adequate for home defense. And choose the size of shells you're going to use bearing in mind the same considerations. Many shotguns these days will accommodate three different size shells, usually 2 1/2", 3" and 3 1/2". The latter two are often called "Magnum" and "Super Magnum" respectively. Trust me: You don't need a large shell to be effective for home defense. Stick with the smallest shell available for your shotgun's chamber.

Shotguns vary by type of feed, too. Some are single shot, some double barrel, some over-under, some semi-automatic, and my all time favorite, the pump. I highly recommend a pump shotgun for home defense. I don't think anyone doesn't understand what's behind that ominous click-clack. Pump that hummer, and you may not have to shoot.

Shotguns come in pistol-grips too, but I don't recommend one unless your name is Arnold and you were once governor of California. Anyone with osteo or rheumatoid arthritis certainly doesn't want to shoot one. I cringe even at the thought of it, but then again, such guns are usually pump actions, so the click-clack may make firing unnecessary. I've got one --  no, Ben's not a pseudonym and I've never run for office -- but I've never fired it. One ugly-scary looking beast. 

Ouch! Doesn't that look painful? Grip it tight or recoil may be a bop on the bean.

But let's assume you've determined your gauge and type of shotgun. What size ammo to use?

A slug is essentially just what you imagine: One big plug of steel or lead, usually fifty caliber. That's a lot of whammy, and will be the most painful to shoot at whatever gauge you've chosen. While slugs are good for deer or elk hunting, I don't recommend them for home defense. Besides, the only thing you're likely to hit may be your neighbor two houses over.

Before choosing your size of ammo, you need to understand why a shotgun is the best weapon for home defense: You don't need good aim. Flinch away. Because shotgun barrels -- except the Taurus Judge-style pistol -- aren't rifled, the pellets inside won't spin. So instead of a true and accurate spiral, like from a rifle or pistol barrel, the lead or steel pellets inside the shell spread. The spread will pattern outward. You can adjust the pattern spread by insertion of a muzzle-choke to squeeze your lead or steel shot any way you want, horizontal, vertical or any combination in between; but you don't need a choke. Expect about a two foot diameter spread twenty feet away without one.

Shot shells vary by size and number of BBs inside, again inversely to number progression. In other words, the larger shot shell number, the smaller the BBs and the more in number. See the following size scale:

The low number shot shells (OOO, OO, O, 1-4) are usually called "buckshot" or "buck". Consider that these are essentially 9mm bullets, which will penetrate bad guys, your walls and maybe your neighbor's, too. Again, while such rounds are good for killing deer or humans, I don't usually recommend them for home defense, unless loaded as a last resort after having already fired rounds of bird shot (shot shells 7-9). Some might disagree about using bird shot for home defense, but if the click-clack doesn't scare an intruder away, a body penetrated with up to seventy or more BBs from bird shot surely will. And close up, bird shot will devastate. Even with the Castle Doctrine -- now being considered in Florida in connection with the Trayvon Martin shooting -- your goal should be protection, not intent to kill. So for my home defense, I load my shotgun with bird shot first, buckshot last. Six rounds of escalating fire power.

The only downside to choosing a shotgun for home defense -- other than the owie-factor, of course -- is where will you keep it? Do you have children, for instance? Do you need to keep your shells separate from the gun? Do you have a safe to accommodate it? Can you access your gun and ammo, load and rack your slide in time?

I do not recommend flashlights attached to shotguns because the bad guy will see you first and your ambient night vision will be ruined. But others may disagree, and it's so tacti-cool to have one.

Click-clack, I'll be back. In Home Defense, Part 3, I'll discuss home defense pistol options.

Home Defense, Part One

by Ben Small

It's three o'clock in the morning and a strange sound awakens you. The tinkle of falling glass, the scrape of a chair across a terrazzo floor, maybe the clink of silver pieces dropped into a bag.

What do you do?

Home invasions are on the rise, no doubt due to the economy and the rising drug trade, the number of addicts in need of fix money. And the number of home owners buying a weapon to defend themselves are on the rise.

But when faced with a home invasion, what do you do? You need to think about this, because it could happen to you. Indeed, it happened to me some years ago.

I'm not going to write about what home defense weapons are the best, for now. I'll save that for Part II, to be run at a later date. Instead, I'll talk about defensive considerations. And you should think about them. Indeed, you should have a plan.

One home defense expert has said that in a true home invasion, you may have as little as eight seconds to react. If that's the case, you may or may not have time to reach for the phone to call 911. And you should try to do so, unless it's obvious that reaching for the phone will get you dead.

But let's say you're awakened and you're not sure what you heard. Lie still and listen. Your cat may just have knocked something over. But if it's a burglary, you will likely hear further movement which will confirm your worst fear. Then you reach for the phone.

Same thing for your home alarm going off. It may just be the wind. Stay still for a moment and listen. If a break-in is confirmed, dial 911 before your alarm company calls you back.

Massad Ayoob, noted author, cop, founder of Lethal Force Institute, Inc., the Massad Ayoob Group, a training academy for police and civilians both and an expert witness for both prosecution and defense, suggests the next thing you should do after dialing 911, is put some clothes on. You will feel much more self-assured with clothes, even a bathrobe, than stark naked.

If you have a weapon, don't put it under the bed. Bugs, dust bunnies, anything that can move into your gun barrel, can cause a catastrophic failure. Don't put a gun under a pillow. You may have a dream and shoot your spouse or yourself. Same thing with a night table. Instead, keep the gun in a handgun safe that can be opened with no light, either by touch or feel. You don't want to be looking around for a key in the dark.

Which brings up another recommendation by Ayoob: Keep the lights off. If you're silent and in the dark, an intruder may not realize someone's there. Your eyes will adjust, if they're not already. Yes, making noise may scare an intruder away, but if he's high on drugs or has a harm agenda, noise will tell him where you are. You know your residence better than an intruder does; make use of this information.

Whisper to your spouse to be silent and either get on the floor on far side of the bed or walk quietly into the closet, especially if the closet door has a lock. The mattress will provide some protection, and if the intruder doesn't kill you both right away, he'll probably put you in the closet anyway. The intruder will be in a hurry. If he can't find you, he can't shoot you. And the last thing you need is a spouse yelling, hampering your thoughts or giving away your location. Your focus needs to be on protection, not diluted by worrying about where your spouse is or what he or she is doing. You do not want him or her peering over your shoulder.

Assuming you have a weapon and want to ward off the intruder, consider whether you can shoot the intruder. Many states have a Castle Rule. Under the Castle Rule, for a successful prosecution against you, the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you had no imminent fear of deadly force. But some states, like Wisconsin, have reversed this rule. You, the shooter, must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you feared imminent deadly peril and that you had no other less deadly means of defending yourself -- a very difficult standard to overcome, especially when it's dark and you don't know if your intruder is armed or not. Shooting someone for stealing your stuff will send you to jail in these Castle-reverse states.

Do you fire a warning shot? If you do, you tell the intruder exactly where you are. Indeed, he may even see your muzzle flash and aim directly for that. Again, most intruders interested only in burglary will flee. But how do you know this intruder's agenda or the condition of his mind?

Depending upon what you've learned from listening to the intruder and considering where you are and what your state law provides, make your decision as to warning shot or not.

Time is on your side. The longer your intruder is in your home, the greater risk he runs. Do what you can to buy time. If you called 911, help is on the way.

But let's say your phone lines have been cut or for some reason you didn't call 911. Should your weapon be equipped with a light or laser?

I like lasers and don't like lights. I'll tell you why. A laser is harder for a bad guy to spot than a light. And a red dot on someone's chest usually gets their attention; it tells them you have a bead on them. But it also tells him where that bead is coming from. Still, the laser dot is harder to spot than a bright flashlight, so you may have several seconds advantage with the laser, plus you'll have your target down pat. Plus, a laser doesn't destroy your night vision. A flashlight or strobe does.

I don't like flashlights attached to guns. While you're searching with the light for where the bad guy is, he knows exactly where you are, and he will probably find you before you find him. Bang, you're dead. If you're going to use a flashlight, hold it over your head and to the side and put it on strobe, so the bad guy's aim may be thrown off. You'll see this tactic on some Sportsmen's Channel personal defense shows.

You don't need an expensive weapon. If you do shoot, count on being fully investigated with a good probability of being prosecuted. You'll never see that gun again, or if you do, it won't be in good shape. Cops don't take care of custodial guns; indeed, they often ruin them.

Don't brag to your buddies about how well prepared you are to defend yourself. Don't show off your guns. Don't tamper with the factory trigger or use handloads. These tidbits can and will be used by a prosecutor to show intent to kill or maim. Yes, you were invaded, but you are the defendant, in both a criminal case and the sure-to-follow civil suit. And since you intended to fire, your insurance policy probably won't cover you for damages -- maybe not the costs of your civil case either.

If you and your spouse have followed these suggestions and have done what you can to protect yourselves, not having fired a shot, the standard for self-defense may be higher than if you have others in the house, like children, who also need protection. You're entitled to protect them too, so a prosecutor weighing all the facts will accept more aggressive actions on your part in these circumstances.

Bottom line: You have to make these decisions, and they aren't easy ones. They'll have to be made quickly. You'll have to take what you see and hear and make snap decisions. The more time passes, the harder your decision, especially because assuming you called 911, help is on the way. The prosecution and civil risk rises with the passage of time.

And that's why you need a plan.