the premise of this whole thread is a little silly and misguided. shotguns are preferred for the simple fact that any idiot can point and shoot a shotgun and it has more knockdown power than anything else. the point of a shotgun is its stopping power... not its lethality. "any idiot" (without continual training and practice) is not going to pull out their 9mm and start going for head shots, in the dark in a hostage situation. furthermore, you would be hardpressed to find any incident EVER where this has ever even been necessary or even happened. the statistical chance of this happening is most likely so astronomical that its more logical and rational and statistically appropriate to spend your time planning on how to avoid getting struck by lightning... or avoid asteroids.
the "what goes up, must come down" remark is a pretty poor argument since you are comparing buckshot to bullets.... not .223 rounds to 7.62 rounds or any rational or relevant comparison... and the lethal range of buckshot is many times less than that of a bullet. buckshot hits shit and stops (or at least its velocity is significantly reduced to non-lethal speeds). bullets tend to go through walls, cars, across the street, through more walls and into bedrooms where other people are sleeping.
and your gonna substantiate your arguments by proving that training is what matters? how does that make sense? i could spend 10 years studying Ninjitsu as a means of home defense and challenge random people to a fight.... that still has no relevance to what weapon is the most useful or practical to the average person who is not going to spend a comparable amount of time training to use a pistol or anything else.
its a scary thought when admittedly paranoid people start talking about fantasy situations they are privately hoping for, somewhere deep inside, when they are collecting weapons, surrounding themselves with surveillence equipment and lecturing on killing people with head shots.
