What gun should you use to protect your home?

Answer 1

A 357 magnum would be the most trust worthy gun to protect your home. It is the new and improved version of the 38 cal. It's not to strong and not to weak and the average person can shoot it with one hand in a hurry.

For a big gun any kind of shotgun would work because you don't have to aim just point because little pellets will spray forward so it would be hard to miss.

Frankly, for home defense, you want to consider several things:

• How easy is the weapon to use, especially when under extreme stress?
• Which persons in the house are reasonably expected to be able to use that weapon? Should certain people in the house be discouraged from using a weapon (due to frailty, age, competence, etc.)?
• At what range do you expect the weapon to be used?
• How effective can the weapon be? For instance, does the weapon discourage the intruder to flee merely by the sight or sound of it, without having to discharge the weapon? Does the discharge of the weapon have a similar intimidation factor? And, how effective is the weapon at disabling (injuring or killing) the target when used at the expected range?
• Which weapons are legal in my city and state?
• How easy is it to secure the weapon inside the house from unauthorized use, while at the same time making it available when needed?
• Do you always want to use lethal force, or are there sub-lethal options available for the weapon?

Generally speaking, I would highly recommend a lightweight shotgun, preferrably with a low-pull slide cock (rather than a semi-auto). For house defense, get the shortest barrel length you can legally buy. The smaller .410 gauge offers a wide variety of useful ammunition (including a variety of non-lethal ones), are easier to use for smaller people (particularly shorter women), and is still very effective. A larger 12-gauge will provide a huge variety of non-lethal ammunition, and so may be the better choice for those who prefer non-lethals.

In addition, I would highly recommend (actually, I would INSIST) purchase of a gun safe to store the weapon in - shotgun-sized safes can be easily stored in a closet. The safe should have a combination lock that is VERY difficult to guess for unauthorized persons, particularly children. In addition, I would store the shotgun UNLOADED. Depending on your level of paranoia and safety-consciousness, the ammunition may be stored in the safe or another smaller lock-box, and you may or may not choose to use a trigger lock on the weapon.

Make sure to EDUCATE everyone in the house about the location of the weapon - that means informing (and insuring propertraining) of those intended to use the weapon, and strict education of those NOT allowed to use the weapon as to WHY they should never use it.

I would HIGHLY recommend that you NOT purchase a pistol of any kind in a house with children. The vast majority of accidental gun deaths by children are with pistols, with rifles far behind, and shotguns at a small fraction of either. I would also highly recommend against use of any sort of a rifle or submachinegun-style weapon as home defense - they are the wrong fit for close-range work, and are also generally a poor choice for high-stress close use, due to their design.

Also, one final consideration: how necessary is "defending your home?" Defending people is one thing, but defense of property is much more of a grey area. After all, insurance will cover the vast majority of losses. And, even in the case of people, how likely is your neighborhood to experience the type of crime that you would have to worry about? Talk to your local police department to get a realistic view of crime in your area. Is your home one which it would be easy to defend? Or, would it be smarter (and safer) to have a plan to flee the house in case of danger? One should consider all these facts before deciding on purchase of a weapon for active home defense.