[Wyosmith]

This is a subject I earn some of my living with. I used to earn all my living teaching it, to US Military personal for a number of years.

I have to point out something here that seems to bypass a lot of folks looking at fighting firearms.

There are currently about 218 Nations States within the UN. ALL of them have armies.
Guess how many of them issue handguns as standard issue arms to their infantry.

That would be ----------- NONE!
Zero.
Zip .
10 less then 10.
Why?
Because rifles are better at 99.9% of all fighting. The 1-10th of 1% that a handgun beats a rifle is inside a tunnel that you must crawl through.

A handgun is vastly superior when you get 'jumped" and are in a situation at close range where you can't get to a rifle or shotgun. it's for the emergency that you can't see coming.
If you can choose the fighting ground a long arm is always better at EVERYTHING.

Ammo is a consideration for sure, if you live when bullets will endanger others as most people do. But it is just as important in handgun and shotgun ammo. Another thing that many people don't know and won't believe is that a hollow point 223 round is far less dangerous after hitting an enemy or a wall then most handgun ammo because high speed hollow points with impact velocities over 2700 FPS break up and fail to penetrate even as well as a standard soft point 9MM pistol bullet.

Even Marnie Corp gate guards and sea service troops carry handguns only to react immediately. If the alarm goes off inside a ship or an embassy the SOP is to run and get rifles.
The old rule was "handguns are for situations that you have to fire a shot in 10 seconds or less from the threat becoming recognized.

Rifles are for anything that gives you 11 seconds or more to prepare.

For home invasions and property protections you will know the battle ground. If you carry a handgun and the door gets kicked in you should go for that handgun. But if you have 15 seconds to grab a shotgun or rifle you can know that rifles are more accurate, often more powerful, and easier to shoot. If you have a military style semi-auto (AK,AR FAL G3 Mini 14 M1A of anything similar) you have more power, more accuracy, more range, more ammo, faster shots, faster reloads, better sights and the ability to command lanes of fire that are not as well covered by any handgun. If you use frangible ammo even a 308 is not going to be much more of a problem then a 45 bullet.

The argument of the being too loud is mostly BS.
#1 you won't care if you are fighting for your life (I know this 1st hand)
#2 If you have 15 seconds to grab a long arm you have probably got time to put on the ear muffs you should store over it's barrel.

The argument that you may have an enemy get close enough to disarm you is also mostly BS. Yes that can happen, but it's highly unlikely in that you "own the battle field" and the enemy doesn't! This is a matter of mindset and training, NOT of the firearms used.

Any gun will do if you can do the job well with that gun. But if you are going to go buy one for home defense, and you are not planning of carrying it at all times you are WAY better off with a long gun.

You should have the lanes of fire understood before hand and that is the same as lanes of vision.

Don't hunt people in your home. Ambush them.

Facing a rifle or shotgun when you have to move into it and don't know where it is would be a VERY poor choice of ways to spend your time. Make the invader aware of that, but only very briefly!