Mmmmm....Number 5. What a great field load...and not definitely too small for protection.....well.....beats 6 anyway, on game. 10ga. is a wonderful thing. A 3" or 3 1/2" 12 ga. single barrel is excellent, and I have used one for very effective game/varmint getting, with 3" Turkey loads, and Full choke. It would be great with a pistol grip, and whatever barrel length is then legal for overall length. I think that barrel length is the key to things, and a pistol gripped shotgun with 20" or more barrel may look strange, but.......!
This feller' needs t' buy a plain old shotgun, fire a box of shells through it, clean it up and put it away. You are right that he should practice with it...most of us do that during various hunting seasons, and fun trips to the range, or the back yard, etc...sadly, he may never rise to the wisdom of doing it until the blood is in the streets...but hey...maybe someone else in the family will appreciate it being there. I hope we are misjudging this, and it is just the begining of a properly armed citizen being hatched.
Let Freedom RING !!!
Katrina has hopefully made some folks realize that IF such an atrocity occurs in their town that even the police are helpless to protect themselves in some cases. This was just a act of nature. If an act of terrorism then who knows what it will bring.
Minimum for every US home IMHO is a 12 gauge shotgun w/ one 25 round box of ammunition of their choice, slugs, buck or bird shot etc etc ....minimum needs per se....