IMO: No-brainer - shotgun. Gauge matters a little - 12 prefered; 20 OK. If a 12, reduced-recoil loads or light loads might be a good idea. If a 20, there are not reduced recoil loads readily available, so lighter payload/velocity loads like target or upland game loads best bet. (A heavy 20 load in a lightweight gun kicks harder than an average 12, IMO) Forget .410; likewise, 28 gauge is wimpy for that purpose. 16 would be OK but ammo selection is limited. A 20 gauge on a 12 gauge frame or action would be a good compromise between recoil and effectiveness - altho it won't matter in a real situation, and my petite wife never has had any problem with 12 gauges.<br><br>GENERALLY speaking, no need for buckshot inside the house. I would, however, advise against very small birdshot. Nothing smaller than # 5 - say something in the # 4 to # 2 range (I'm talking lead, not steel). OTOH, buckshot is good.<br><br>Action? Break-open double barrel is simple; lacks rapid third and beyond shots for all but the most skilled Can be expensive. Pumps are universal and make an unmistakable bone-chilling sound when the action is cycled to chamber a round. Autos are great for recoil reduction when shooting a lot of claybirds, but add a little to the "complication equation" for a novice. I'd go with a reliable pump.<br><br>But... an 8 hour course followed by a re-familiarization once in a while (you pick - quarterly, semi-annual, annual - depends on retention of the trainee) - that is enough for the "bang" part of this. The HARD part is teaching/learning when to shoot and when to not - and how to handle those situations. That is much harder.<br><br>I'm not sure I'd encourage you to have one in the house if the primary "user" doesn't shoot at least a few times a year, and even then... however, it's truly your call. My household exercises its rights, but there is a lot of life-long education and hands on (and on-going dialog - a lengthy and difficult topic).<br><br>I dunno if that helps - if you want to discuss further, let's move to the Campfire forum ,eh?<br><br>Regards,<br><br>Tom