Barb, welcome. First off, opinions are like....well, you get the point.<br><br>Firearms are a very personal thing and comfort levels play a key role in determining what's right for you and your husband. Also $ plays an important factor. For a decent pistol you could easily buy a 12 ga for your husband and a 20 ga for yourself. I truly think that john baker and AyersTG summed it up very well. <br><br>http://www.equipped.org/us_primer.htm<br><br>There is no one answer, no perfect gun. Guns are tools. I'm amazed, truly amazed, at some of the responses so far. Lethal force is a serious subject with many inuendos. <br><br>If you would like to talk privately, feel free to private message me.<br><br>And MKII, though I truly appreciate your eagerness to learn and share, there are a couple issues.<br><br>"Second, if it is for in home use, its much much easier for you to use a pistol. place your self in the situation. in my honest opinion, a pistol would come out on top and a close quaters battle."<br>For CQB one of my pisols would almost be my last choice, (especially in my own home) second only to a large caliber bolt action scoped rifle.<br><br>"fourth, its much easier and FASTER to line up the sites one a pistol, then it would be aiming a rifle"<br>No it's not. Shotguns are very intuitive, have longer barrels, and have the advantage of buckshot or birdshot.<br><br>"a small Ruger SP101, or the like"<br>I do not recommend a large caliber revolver with a small frame and a very short barrel for anyone new to firearms.