Originally Posted by Marvelous Marv

High velocity is not exactly what you want. My mini-14 will shoot through an engine block, but it's not great for home defense, because it can easily go through several walls and injure someone in an entirely different house. I would submit that you want stopping power. In my mind, that would translate to either a shotgun or some combination of large caliber and hollow points.

Up until these riots, the only gun I owned was a single-shot .22 I'd had since I was a kid. I asked my roommate, a Vietnam SEAL, what he'd recommend.

He told me that although they weren't supposed to, many of those on the teams sawed off shotguns, and if they needed to clear a hut, they just stuck the barrel in the doorway and pulled the trigger. That took care of everything inside.

Considering the amount of adrenaline that would be flowing if there were an intruder in my house, a shotgun might be just what I'd want. Admittedly, it would be more appropriate if there were no family members around to become "collateral damage."