The Best Home Defense Weapon

I stumbled across yet another online argument over whether rifles, shotguns, or handguns are the best home defense weapons. Every platform had its proponents and detractors. Those in favor of shotguns pointed out their statistical rate of one-shot stops. Rifle fans were quick to point out that shotguns have limited ammunition capacity so you're better off with a rifle. Then handgun proponents pointed out that long guns are difficult to maneuver indoors.

When an argument is waged this long and this often, it typically means that there's no objectively correct answer. This is the case with choosing the best home defense weapon. There isn't an objectively correct answer. Each platform has advantages and disadvantages. At the end of the day, what matters most is availability and proficiency.

If you only own a double-barrel side-by-side shotgun and can't afford another firearm, then that shotgun is your best home defense weapon by merit of being available. If you own that shotgun and an AR-15 and are well practice with the former but have never shot the latter, the shotgun remains your best home defense weapon by merit of your proficiency.

It's easy to concoct a scenario where your preferred platform is the best option. What if you're facing 10 home invaders all wearing body armor? Then a rifle is probably your best option because it has greater ammunition capacity and a chance of defeating body armor (depending on the round you're using and the body armor the attackers are wearing, fortunately in these scenarios your rifle always as the appropriate ammunition to defeat the body armor the attackers are wearing). Unless you don't have a rifle, don't know how to run any rifles you own, don't keep a rifle staged and ready, etc. In all of those cases, a rifle doesn't do you much good. What if you have a handgun on your person when the attackers break into your home and they're between you and your staged rifle with which you're highly proficient? Then your handgun is the best option because it's available.

Truth be told, barring a few exceptions such as being a member of a gang, the chance of attackers breaking into your home in the United States is low. Moreover, again barring a few exceptions, in the rare case attackers do break into your home, the chance there will be a large number of attackers kitted out with body armor and rifles and be proficient in group maneuvers and their weapons is so low as to be almost absurd. If that's what you're facing, your choice of weapon is going to be pretty low on the list of what determines whether or not your survive (unless your weapons include claymore landmines deployed in your home, then they will be higher on that list). That's a scenario where escape and evasion are much more valuable than whether you have a shotgun, rifle, or handgun to defend yourself.

We gunnies (myself included) have a habit of getting so deep into the weeds that we lose sight of everything except our immediate surroundings. We focus in on one or two very specific scenarios and mistakenly assume that they're the norm. What if 10 guys with military training who are kitted out with rifles and body armor break into your home? We could argue about this for hours, but it's a very specific scenario. The norm is never facing a home invasion. Of course self-defense planning doesn't involve norms, so we should look at the norm for the rare case of home invasions. When facing a home invasion, the norm is the invader is somebody you know and with whom you have a history or is a robber who might have a friend or two.

Shotguns, rifles, and handguns are all viable options in the vast majority of home defense scenarios. Each has advantages and disadvantages, but all are viable. What really matters is what you have and what you know how to use. If you don't have a weapon, it's useless. If you have a weapon but don't know how to use it, it's of extremely limited use (it's not useless because you might get lucky and scare the attacker(s) away or managed a lucky shot). The best home defense weapon the one you have and with which are well practiced. If you have a rifle and a handgun and spend summers shooting USPSA or PCSL matches and seldom ever shoot your rifle, the handgun is the better overall option in most cases. If, on the other hand, you seldom practice with your handgun but spend a lot of time shooting your rifle, the rifle is the better overall option in most cases. Ditto for a shotgun.