I'm not sure I want to shoot a shotgun inside with no hearing protection on. Some are considering a pistol or a carbine with a suppressor for home defense.
A factor for sure, but actually many handguns actually cause more 'impulse damage', strange as that might sound? The pressure in a shotgun is much lower (but the bore bigger) when the muzzle blast comes, in fact it's much lower from the start (shotgun walls are thin, can't take the pressure like centerfires). It 'booms' more but the report is less sharp. In actual use, citizens (and cops) often report 'getting in the zone' and not even hearing the report. Typically folks can't reliably recall precisely how many shots even. Natural instincts take over it seems?
I've accidentally fired a first shot after target change 'without ears' in a steel plate indoor range. No mistaking the mistake. Still, while painful and providing brief effect (a day or so, like after a loud rock concert), not much past embarrassment happened. The problem was evident as was the fix. I also was next to some fool who signed in, ran his target out in the cease fire, and before anyone could notice, let alone stop him he cranked 3 round of .45 Auto off rapid fire (also not allowed.....). They asked him to leave.
Hearing damage in such cases is cumulative. Over long time. Go to an NRA convention and watch the old men shouting at each other. It took many years and thousands of shots to do that. A couple, while to be avoided, is not very damaging (defies measure in one article I read 'back when').
Suppressors are a bust in my state, we can't be trusted with them. Exceptions for the cops of course, and those that sell to them, but you go to jail in California for otherwise legal ownership. And you go to jail anywhere if you don't register it and pay the $200 fee after passing the investigation. Same basic deal as the permit for a machine gun, actually. We have some very nasty laws left over in this area. Guys have gone to jail over a 2 liter soda bottle taped over the muzzle. Shoot a bad guy in your living room and you could well end up in very serious trouble. Not to mention his lawyer claiming you were obviously intending to shoot his poor client who was only trying to feed his kids. You could lose your house, bullet hole and blood stains and all. Like that special bullet your brother in law gave you 'just in case'. Best advice is 'use what the cops use', juries understand that. Nothing special, such is lawyer bait.
IMO a valid concern but when push comes to shove I suggest protecting your family in the best way available is a good compromise with the ringing in your ears the next day? With any luck it will be louder and more memorable for the scumbag in your house looking to harm love ones or to take your stuff to swap for a fix.
I know a guy who cannot own a gun (past disagreement with the heat). He lives in a sketchy neighborhood (go figure) and keeps both a baseball bat and serious sword behind the bedroom door. He practices with the sword a fair bit, I sure wouldn't want to be in the same room with him if he's angry, but that 'bark over here, bite over there' of a gun trumps his options. He's still miles better than the guy with no plan at all.
You should also incorporate this with your fire safety plan. You should consider, before hand, possible escape routes (windows, doors, etc) available in an emergency and a meeting place a short distance away. If you yell 'fire' in the middle of the night, the family should be trained to immediately flee and rendezvous as planned. You sure don't want them downrange when the loud part starts?
And important decision for sure, and like all such should be an educated one. The safety and peach of mind (not to mention the increased self reliance) are there potentially, but it takes an adult owner to by effective.
The NRA magazine publishes a dozen or so such stories each month of "Armed Citizens" successfully using legal guns to defend themselves. Fun reading in a way, informative IMO and gives a good perspective of
the real world:
https://www.nraila.org/gun-laws/armed-citizen/
Guns have legitimate uses in society, but do you think NYC wood be safer with everyone packing heat? Lol maybe Owensville works that way.
Ooh yeah, why do I never see gun advocates clamoring for the freedom of black Americans to have guns?
I think your first point has merit, but suggest the guys you really need fear are packing illegally? Bad guys don't generally follow the laws.........
The only folks you disarm by law are already law abiding.
The second is WAY off base historically. Do you know where the first (anti) gun laws came from? Fear of newly liberated slaves, yes, the Democrats voted them in in the South specifically as a race issue. Nothing to be proud of, but facts are facts. Responsible gun owners didn't do this, in fact we fight it to this day. You do us a great disservice by inferring we're that racist today. IMO you should check your facts before branding those whom you don't agree with as racists......popular as that seems to have become. Minorities need the same protection, probably more on average? And all citizens have the same rights. And lets be clear here, this is a right not a privilege. There's a huge difference, really, even if schools no longer teach the young the distinction? Like freedom of religion.
"Saturday Night Special" laws are racist (or class based) IMO. As were the first Democrat bans in the south in Reconstruction. They too were based on cost, make guns too expensive for the rabble. And this also explains why we here in California have such restrictive knife laws to this day (no dirks, switchblades over 2 inches, etc).......we had Mexicans to fear you see.....and they carry knives, everyone knows that..... That was then, now is different I think.
Due to the area I live in well over half the students I taught were minority or women. Often both. We're talking 10 or so per class, a class a month, for several years. Good folks of all stripes and colors. Our club, as is with the NRA, is not 'restricted'. There's no box for race on the applications.......
Yes, I fully support
law abiding citizens of appropriate age owning firearms without considering how they fit in society past that. It is their RIGHT, I've no business trying to limit it. I sure don't want them trying to tell me what to do in this area, so the Golden Rule rules?
Fun stuff, regards to all.
OF