Okay I know the mods dont like a lot of gun talk on the board so I will make this short and sweet and tell you only what you need to know to be safe.

1. Shoot a 12ga indoors and you may very well go deaf and even make your ears bleed. The smaller the room the better the chances. If you have children they are even more susceptible to permanent ear damage.

2. I have trouble even stopping rabbits with a 22cal so I wouldn't even consider it for defense. Granted (as Bountyhunter may tell you) we've got real BIG rabbits here in Texas though.