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I recently had a female family member ask me what gun to get for self defense. I told her to get a Glock 23. I said, any home intrusion will put you with in 10ft of the intruder. You don't want to be carrying anything where someone could reach out and grab the barrel.

I will take your side against MeOnTheBeach on this one.

You have to take many factors in to consideration when choosing a home defense weapon. In the case of your female family member I think Me really did not consider the fact that you were recommending a weapon for a woman.

For a woman or elderly person one has to consider weight and recoil. Many woman and elderly the weight of a fully loader shotgun may make it difficult to control and the recoil of a shotgun may be intolerable.

I will also disagree with Me concerning the intruder grabbing the barrel of the shotgun. Even a shot gun with a short barrel will extend out from you body about 2 feet when at the shoulder ready to fire. A pistol on the other hand can be held at the beltline pointed at a near target essentially not extending from the body at all. This is a shooting technique that should be practiced to ensure that you have learned how to aim in this shooting position.

Another advantage of a pistol is in shooting around corners. With a shotgun you basically have to move in to a hallway exposing yourself. With a pistol you can shoot one handed around a corner or doorway shooing from cover.

"I will also disagree with Me concerning the intruder grabbing the barrel of the shotgun."

Well...you're wrong. How's that? :-D

The potential intruder is her ex who knows the house, he's threatened her life.

She's only recently been trained how used a firearm. So you're talking about nervousness and fear x 10.

In reality, not theory-craft, a shotgun is a bad choice in a dark house with a scared, inexperienced female wielder. One side swipe with a hand, arm, chair, etc in the dark and it's over. Especially against someone that knows the house really well. Where to hide, where she's coming from, field of view.

A handgun is the best choice in this instance. And the guy is really really big too. Even if you get grabbed or knocked down, if you're hand is still on that gun, you can still defend yourself.