You've got to be kidding. If you get hit with a shotgun blast, you're dead, period.
It depends on where you get shot. Stop making idiotic assumptions. If you get shot in the leg, you'll be wounded badly but you won't die. You'll much more likely die from a head shot from a small handgun.
Also, you're changing your question. You didn't say anything about a shotgun, you simply stated a gun. Nothing about shotguns.
Sure you're taking a risk. It's a risky chance you'd have to take. But if a criminal knows for sure he'll meet up with someone with a shotgun, he's a lot less like to take the chance. It's just common sense.
More reason to kill you first. Then loot your house. Is the criminal going to wait for you to get out of bed so you can fetch a shotgun, and you can have a good old shootout?
An intelligent criminal would more likely just sneak into your house and take your stuff. An experienced robber is bound to be more stealthy than you as you come stomping down the stairs making 'intimidating' sounds with your shotgun.
He'll probably thank you for the warning, then shoot you.
And that's really the point. No self defense weapon compares to a shotgun, because anyone can use one with deadly results.
Including your kids, neighbor, nephew or even wife.
You may feel safe but you're a danger to everyone else, and the gun at the same time is a danger to you.
You seem to believe that your gun will make your house a safer place, and robbers will always avoid your house because they somehow know, you have a gun in there. You're so paranoid, you even believe that they'll let you find your gun, and let you shoot them.
http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_062904WAKsnohomishmurderSW.2ac185ba2.html
As we've demonstrated, a light is laughable to criminals and no match for a shotgun.
You haven't demonstrated that, unless you own that special flash light, and have aimed it at yourself. The other person who mentioned that didn't even read the descriptions.
Obviously, you don't get the different types of light and the different types of power. Is the light from the sun silly? How about the blinding light from those small laser pens? Natural light can be dangerous,
You're on a physics forum, time to stop making dumb comments about light, electromagnetic radiation, and rays. Light can be used for many purposed and is hardly "silly" like you claim.
You've demonstrated nothing aside from the fact that you like Shotguns because they may or may not help you when your house gets robbed.
If you want to argue no defense at all is better, well that's another story. We'll just ignore statistics that show victim cooperation does not always prevent violence.
Gun use, never promotes piece. Gun owners should be the last ones talking about preventing violence.
http://www.thekeep.org/~kunoichi/kunoichi/stupid.html