I'm fairly new to the world of firearms. But since I've been old enough to buy my own huntin' magazines (long before the Nobel Peace Prize Winner invented the internet), I've always read that a pump shotgun, loaded with anything from 00 buck to #4 birdshot, was the preferred weapon for home defense. Reliable, effective, easier to aim, needed less training than a hand gun (?), and less likely to hurt loved ones behind sheetrock. I'm not talking about the guarding of the homestead against marauders here. But the "Honey, I think I heard a window break downstairs" kind of home defense.
Now I've just heard - from someone I suspect as being very knowledgeable - that a tactical rifle with frangible ammo (I don't even know what that is) is the preferred home defense weapon. I'm looking for the right home defense long arm, and this seems to be the right place to get other qualified opinions. Can you folks enlighten me on why a tactical rifle, and with what kind of ammo, is preferred to a 12 or 20 gauge? Or is that just flat out wrong?