Home Defense: Rifle, Shotgun, Pistol

What is best when it comes to home defense? A rifle, shotgun or pistol. As with anything you're going to have to decide what works best for you. All three have their merits in the realm of home defense. Let's break down some of the pros and cons here.Rifle

We're talking about a semi-automatic rifle here. You're bolt action rifle, while scary to some, isn't really practical when it comes to home defense. A semi-automatic rifle gives you some real bang for your buck with a good ammo capacity and power behind it to put an intruder down. You can choose from an AR or AK variant, but either one will do the trick. The downside to this is that not everyone is super accurate with these rifles and they tend to penetrate through sheetrock quite easily.Shotgun

A shotgun is the go-to weapon of choice for many in home defense. The reason why? Because you don't have to be a deadeye marksman if you've got some buckshot in there and that buckshot is not going to over penetrate. Now collateral damage may be high if you distance yourself from the target and are not the best shot. The kick might be too much for some to handle, but a smaller gauge (like a 20 gauge) will still do the trick for home defense. The drawback here is the limited ammo capacity. You shouldn't need 30 rounds of 12 gauge to clear out your home. If you do, you've got bigger fish to fry brother.Pistol

The pistol is a nice mid-range between the shotgun and the rifle. You have more ammo capacity than a shotgun and the pistol is not as unwieldy as maybe the longer barrel of the rifle and shotgun are. However with the new advancements in personal defense ammo, whether you opt for .45 caliber or 9mm, the intruder will most likely want to stop whatever it is he or she is doing. A downside to pistols is they are not as accurate as the longer barrel rifle and require more precision than a shotgun.