And, yes, I prefer a shotgun over an AR (I have one), just to allay my possibly ill-founded concerns about over penetration and shooting a neighbor's house.
Your wisdom is appreciated!
David
NM
Well-chosen .223/5.56 ammo is one of the “safest,” regarding over-penetration through human opponents and building materials. The rifle becomes a problem when one misses the intended target, there is no back-stop, and there are no-shoots down-range.
We keep shotguns at the ready, for home defense, while my AR/M4 weapons are stored empty, but that is not because I fear over-penetration issues with .223/5.56 ammo. I started using pump shotguns in the early Eighties, and Benelli autoloaders in the early Nineties, all with cross-bolt-type safeties at the rear of the trigger guard. I did not become acquainted with the AR/M4 system until 2002, when I was age 40, as part of my police training, when my employer decided to again allow patrol rifles, after September 11th, 2001. I have never learned to like the AR/M4 safety/selector, as it operates in a way that my brain sees as backwards, after having become indoctrinated in other weapon safety systems.
Plus, I have had many criminals at gun-point, during 33+ years of policing, with my personally-owned shotguns in-hand. That is much “stress inoculation,” over time. I like having that, on my side. So, my go-to home defense long gun is a Benelli M2, one of my duty shotguns. Our shared home-defense long guns are Remington 870 pump guns, which my wife prefers. One of them was also one of my duty shoguns.
I had zero humans at gun-point, with my AR15A2 Govt Carbine, when I was a designated “carbine unit,” due to rules regarding when rifles could be uncased, and in-hand. During one lengthy stand-off, it bothered me that my AR’s safety was aligned with the barrel. With my 1911 pistols, that would be off-safe. With my issued Taser, that would be off-safe. With a Third-Generation S&W auto-pistol, that would be off-safe. With a Walther PPK/s, that would be off-safe. Yes, I knew that my AR was on-safe, that night, but, during a long stand-off, one’s brain will what-if things to death, and over-think things to death. I never had such problems with my familiar shotguns. My mind is indoctrinated to check the position of a shotgun’s safety button, every time I pick it up, or put it down. Others’ experiences and preferences will vary.
To be clear, I have nothing against your Remington auto-loading shoguns. I worked for a PD that would only consider recoil-operated auto-loading shotguns for duty. Gas-operated shotguns were excluded from consideration. During my time with the PD, 1984 to 2018, the only approved-for-duty auto-loading shotguns were the Benelli M1 Super 90, and later the Benelli M2.
