by Marty Hayes, J.D.
Twelve years ago, Vice President Joe Biden during an interview famously gave the American people some gun advice when asked about Americans owning AR-15s for self-defense. The video clip is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHZ7zXLvOkY .
Of course, savvy gun owners scoffed at his comments when he advised if there was trouble at your home, just go out on the balcony and fire two blasts from a double barrel shotgun.
Now, I agree with Biden that a shotgun in the home is a pretty good go-to weapon for home defense, but there are some real considerations that one must understand if they are going to keep a shotgun for that purpose. This article will discuss those concerns.
Recently, I was fortunate to attend a top-of-the-line defensive shotgun course when Erick Gelhaus (Cougar Mountain Solutions) https://www.cougarmountainsolutions.com/ was invited to The Firearms Academy of Seattle (FAS) to teach a course. It was just too good of an opportunity to get a refresher in shotgun use. I taught defensive shotgun courses myself for years when I ran FAS, but it had been quite a long time since I did any serious training with the shotgun, and I was as rusty as a shotgun barrel left out in the rain. (Shotguns are notorious for their propensity to rust.)
Gelhaus (pictured to the right) is one of the current generation of firearms instructors who recently retired from either the military or law enforcement and chose to share their experiences with the gun-owning public. In Erick’s case, he spent many years in the military before he pursued a career in law enforcement, and to put the frosting on the cake, he has taught at Gunsite Academy for over 20 years, which is where I first met him. Consequently, he has the chops to teach this subject matter.
But why does a person need to spend two days and several hundred punishing 12-gauge rounds when, according to Biden, all you need is a double barrel shotgun and the ability shoot a couple of rounds off your balcony? Well, for one thing, if you are intent on actually surviving a lethal encounter using a shotgun as your defensive weapon, you really need some training to learn a myriad of skills and tactics. Two days (or a couple of one-day classes) will cover the material nicely. The following is the outline of what a well-trained individual needs to know if they choose a shotgun.
Choice of Shotgun:
There are two types of shotguns that are commonly used – the pump shotgun (Remington 870 or Mossberg 500, to name a couple of the most popular ones), and the semi-auto, as exemplified by the most popular semi these days, the Beretta 1301. Pictured to the left is FAS Owner/Director Belle McCormack with a Beretta 1301 semiauto shotgun. My semi-autos are all 20 years+ old, and work just fine, but if I was going to buy a new shotgun, it would be the Beretta. I thought I’d link a YouTube video about the Beretta, but there are so many of them I couldn’t pick just one. If you want to learn about this shotgun, go to YouTube and knock yourself out! Remember though, your choice of shotgun will mean you need to learn the operating system, which I call manipulation. Each one is different, so pick wisely.
Manipulation:
A person needs to learn how to load and unload, how to effectively store the shotgun for easy readiness but also safely, needs to learn how to fire from the shoulder so it does not beat you up, and learn how to shoot multiple shots and shoot multiple targets, which is not as easy with a shotgun as with a handgun because of the recoil. Learning the above will get you started using a shotgun for defense, and Erick covers the subject efficiently and thoroughly. What I really appreciate is his broad depth of knowledge and the willingness to teach several techniques and then allow the student to experiment with the different techniques. His class is not “it’s my way or the highway” as one finds with many lesser-skilled instructors. Of course, as would be expected from a Gunsite Rangemaster, the safety protocols are strictly enforced. I never felt unsafe during two days of training.
Use of cover:
Given a shotgun’s highest and best use is as a home defense weapon, learning how to use cover with it is imperative. Fully one-quarter of Erick’s class dealt with using the shotgun from behind cover. Standing, both strong and weak side, kneeling, and one-handed shooting from behind both left- and right-side cover and from each side was taught and practiced. What happens if during your lethal force encounter you take a bullet to your strong side arm while holding a shotgun? You just can’t call time-out; you keep fighting or die. Gelhaus advises to kneel, load and manipulate the shotgun while cradling the gun in your wounded arm (illustrated above, left), then get back in the fight. 
Even weak-sided, if you press the shotgun into the vertical cover while shooting, you can hold it steady enough for good, accurate shots.
Patterning:
Do you know how much your shotgun’s pattern spreads when using your favorite buckshot load at various distances? The original rule of thumb was 1 inch of spread for each yard farther from the target, with standard 00 buckshot, and a cylinder bore shotgun. Much has changed and with new types of ammunition and different shotguns, one MUST do the patterning for themselves, with whatever type of ammo they choose. A load of 00 buckshot will spread as it leaves the barrel and travels down range, and at some point, the pattern will be so wide that it will be off the target. You need to determine your maximum effective range at which all the pellets stay on the target. In the photo to the right, Gelhaus evaluates of of the class patterning targets.
A final thought about ammunition: If you live rurally, slugs might be a very good option to keep in the shotgun, or at least to keep in an auxiliary carrier so you have a choice. You need to sight in with slugs and need to know your maximum distance. Hitting a human target with a shotgun slug at 100 yards is doable, IF you control all the variables.
A good shotgun course will cover the above subjects, and Gelhaus’s course did it well.
Liability concerns create the need to be able to document the fact that you knew the parameters of defensive shotgun use.
For example, if you step outside your home and confront someone who needs shooting, will a pellet or two miss the target and go through the walls into a neighboring house and kill the babysitter? You need to know when someone is too far away to engage.
What if you are in your home? Isn’t it better to hunker down behind a corner wall to your bedroom, as opposed to standing in the doorway looking down the hall?
Documented training helps explain why you took the actions you did in an emergency.
One of the great assets of the shotgun is the powerful load it fires, but on the flip side, most shotguns hold only five to eight rounds. Having learned to reload the shotgun under stress would be very worthwhile in multiple-aggressor scenarios.
Then there is the interesting facet of deadly force, that explores using too much deadly force. Would shooting someone with a load of 00 buckshot be too much? If the life you are defending is someone you love, I would not think so.
How many shots did you fire? Using a handgun, it is not excessive force to shoot several rounds, because the power of typical handgun ammunition is pretty anemic. When shooting a .223 rifle, the gun is so light-kicking, as to make firing two to three rounds in a matter of a second standard practice. I live next door to a shooting range where police train frequently, and I hear this type of rapid-fire shooting going on all the time when they are training. Should you do the same with a shotgun? Shoot someone once in a vital area with a standard00 buck load, and they will likely be out of the fight. Shoot twice, and the second shot’s accuracy will be affected by the movement of the individual who will likely be either falling or twisting. Take three shots, and the third is either likely unnecessary or it will miss altogether. An unnecessary shot opens up the armed citizen to the claim he or she used excessive force.
Here’s the bottom line: the shotgun, either a pump or semi-auto makes a great home defense weapon. As is true for all other weapons, good, competent training will many times make the difference between a satisfactory outcome and a disappointing one.
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About the author: Marty Hayes is founder and president of Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network, an organization he started to address the issues of post shooting legal issues he was concerned about for his students at The Firearms Academy of Seattle, Inc. which he owned and operated for many years. In 2003, Marty decided to pursue a law degree with the expectation of working in the legal arena, and during this time, the idea of the Network was born.
Upon graduation in 2007, he set out to form the structure of the Network, along with working with other top firearms training professionals to ensure the success of the Network. Marty brings 30 years experience as a professional firearms instructor, 30 years of law enforcement association and his knowledge of the legal profession both as an expert witness and from his legal education to the leadership of the Network.