The Role of the Modern Shotgun

[Tom Givens]

The Modern Role of the Shotgun

With advances in barrel mod’s by Vang Comp, better sights, hugely improved ammunition, and modern training methods, the serious social shotgun is light years from where it was 40 years ago.

For the typical private citizen, the idea of engaging threats from 50 to 200 meters is largely a fantasy, and that is the optimal role for the carbine/patrol rifle. On the other hand, a distressingly common problem for the private citizen is two or three intruders armed with handguns in a home invasion or take-over robbery scenario. You don’t want to tackle that problem with a handgun—this is the realm of the shotgun. You’ve heard, “Don’t take a knife to a gunfight.” A better motto would be, “Don’t take a pistol to a shotgun fight.” The purpose of the shotgun is to DOMINATE a handgun fight, with multiple assailants, close range, and tight time being very common.

This year we have two Defensive Shotgun Instructor Development Courses scheduled, plus an Advanced Shotgun Instructor course for prior graduates. Whether you plan to teach or not, this is the best way to learn solid, modern, effective shotgun technique. Plus, it’s a lot of fun.


May 16-18, 2025 (Givens)
Defensive Shotgun Instructor Lakeland, FL
https://rangemaster.corsizio.com/event/ ... f3ba0f31ef

Aug 8-10, 2025 (Givens)
Defensive Shotgun Instructor, Apache Solutions Yadkinille, NC
https://rangemaster.corsizio.com/event/ ... f3ba8f4191

June 7-8, 2025 (Givens)
Advanced Shotgun Instructor
Echo Valley, West Virginia
https://rangemaster.corsizio.com/event/ ... 73589455d2

[SWFLpistolsmith]

Thanks for posting this Tom, and thanks for still offering this practical subject. The community has gotten so saturated with the AR platform (not a bad thing in my opinion) that it seems to be the go-to solution for every situation...which it's not. Carbines and especially pistol length ARs are a great tool, I am a huge fan of each, but in the situation you described it would be very comforting to have a scattergun!
Life's not the same at 3 am when you're groggy and still trying to figure out what exactly woke you up. Precision fire may not be as practical as high volume area suppression weapons