Robb,<br><br>Many good points have already been made & I will not revisit them. Other considerations include the following:<br><br>Competent handling & use of a shotgun can be learned faster than for a handgun. It is easier to control & point. Accordingly, it is easier to hit with a shotgun. The shotgun can easily have much more stopping power than any handgun. Just look at the relative sizes of the ammunition. The shotgun shell can also dump all of its energy in the target more readily & with more certainty than the handgun cartridge. The pellets from the shotgun shell are much more likely to spend their energy & remain in the target than a single bullet from an adequately powerful handgun.<br><br>On the other hand, any shotgun is much longer & more unwieldy within the confines of a house than a handgun. In tight quarters the awkwardness can be prohibitive. Although any gun can be grabbed by an attacker, the much larger shotgun simply has more that can be grabbed. It is especially susceptible to being grabbed from a side assault: just compare an 18" barrel to a 4" barrel; compare the sizes of the actions & stocks. In close quarters, it will be hard & acquired to point. From a likely positions of safety where your wife might be in an emergency, does she have room to swing freely a shotgun over the entire arc of danger? Use a 4' dowel or augmented yardstick for simulation. <br><br>How will you secure the guns? The handgun can be carried on the person routinely. At other times, it can repose safely in any of the many handgun lock boxes which are designed for quick access. Are adequate security devices for long guns available & appropriate for home use. You will want some variation of a combination lock based. In an emergency, keys may not be readily available. Most of the locking systems for long guns of which I am aware are slower to access. If you have an unsecured gun, will your children, their friends, & amazingly stupid adults be able to access it? One will inevitably find it. I do believe that I have adequately gun-proofed my own children. However, my experience has been that their friends are infinitely inquisitive, ignorant of proper handling of guns, & eventually likely to happen onto things I truly thought well hidden. Adult guests should be regarded as larger, more capable children whose potential mischief is boundless & unpredictable. <br><br>It would be helpful if your wife tried shooting handguns & shotguns to explore her capabilities & interests. Conceivably rental shotguns may be available with expert instruction at a trap & skeet club. Certainly rental handguns are available on such basis. That will provide an opportunity to see how heavy & large a shotgun she can handle properly. You can also gauge her reaction to recoil. <br><br>Against what threat are you seeking to protect? Do the prospects tend more towards a single opportunistic burglar or multiple assassins? The greater the threat, the greater the need for overwhelming firepower. In my own home, the main concern is for a dangerous burglar. My wife is comfortable with revolvers, but not semiautomatic pistols. I'm adaptable. Therefore, most of the time we have a revolver accessible. During our local riot season, & during my occasional acrimonious lawsuits (civil lawyer), defenses are strengthened. Defensive long guns <br>& other handguns are made readily accessible. My wife uses a 20 ga. Rem.1100 gas operated semiautomatic shotgun for bird hunting & skeet shooting. So it is an appropriate choice for her. I have extensive experience in hunting & target shooting with both pump & semiautomatic shotguns. For most of such of uses, I now prefer semiautomatics. OTH, during critical & highly demanding situations, I always switch to a pump. For defensive purposes I have a 12 ga. Rem. 870 pump. The Mossberg 500 pump shotgun is also an excellent choice. <br><br>Recoil is a factor in shooting proficiency & comfort. It is all the more important for a beginner. In general, recoil can be reduced by increasing the weight of the gun, or reducing the power of the ammunition-- i.e., decreasing velocity, or decreasing the total weight of the projectile (ejecta), including bullet/shot, gunpowder, and any wadding. It is usually better for a shooter to begin with a smaller guage shotgun. Here the most practical choices are 12 & 20 gauges. In shotguns, the smaller the number of the gauge, the larger the bore. The 12 ga. has the greatest variety of ammunition available, but will kick noticeably harder in guns of the same weight. In the short range, limited defensive environment of a house, a 20 ga. should be adequate. Pump actions are more reliable & less complicated than semiautomatics. Training (as in skeet shooting which entails rapid pairs of shots) should overcome any tendency not to operate the action fully. <br><br>A new shooter of a shotgun, especially if petite, will probably be happier with the smaller gauge. It tends to come in shotguns about 1-2 pounds lighter than 12 gauge. If recoil is a significant in a lighter shotgun, a gunsmith can add about 1 pound or so to the weight. The additional weight will mitigate the recoil.<br><br> In general, the larger the size of the shot pellets, the greater the penetration. Slugs, buckshot, & large bird shot are much more likely to penetrate walls. The pattern of shot will tend to disperse at the rate of approximately 1" per yard in a full choke shotgun barrel; and at ~ 2" per yard in a cylinder bore (no choke at all). Intermediate chokes perform within those ranges. Consider the ranges involved, & choose your choke. At very close range, the substantially undispersed shot load will tend to operate as if it were a single large jagged projectile in terms of the damage done within the target. Thus, for example, very small shot such as #9 will be deadly at 1 yard, but dispersed & not very injurious at, say, about 60 yards. The power (velocity & energy) of the spherical shot pellet decreases rapidly as the range increases. The size of bird shot also increases as its numerical designation decreases. Carefully consider the nature (e.g., body armor/heavy clothing/light clothing) of the potential target & the likely range as well as the choke in choosing ammunition.<br><br>If a handgun chosen, be sure she can comfortably & properly hold it. Some larger semiautomatic pistols require large hands for proper use. Smaller semiautomatic pistols & those with single column magazines tend to have smaller grips. Smaller & medium frame revolvers have or can be fitted with smaller stocks. These may be more appropriate for someone whose hand is smaller than a medium to large male hand. Choose a popular caliber such as .38 Special, .357 Magnum (which also can shoot .38 Spec. ammo), 9 mm Luger, .40 S&W, or .45 ACP. They are popular for a reason. They have a large variety of ammunition available. The ammo is available in loads appropriate for defense. For whatever caliber you choose, you will probably find that the better defensive ammunition will tend to come with light to medium weight bullet (relative to the caliber), and jacketed hollow pointed bullets of high velocity (relative to the caliber). The .38 Spec., however, is probably best loaded with medium to full weight hollow pointed lead semiwadcutters rated +P. The .45 ACP may also be best loaded with medium to full weight bullets. <br><br>Feel free to follow up with any questions you wish via PM or the Forum.<br><br>Good luck,<br><br>John