Shotgun's, assault rifles, hand guns, and a c6 machine gun.

I intend to purchase a shotgun for home defense. A handgun may be considered more ideal to some but it has drawbacks, first being a Canadian there are more hoops to go through and second a hand gun poses more of a risk for my neighbours. Shot will usually be stopped by the first wall it contacts if not slowed to non-lethal velocities while the bullet from a modern hand gun will go much much further.