I’m liking your logic so far...what caliber have you chosen for this?
Heavy cannelured (crimped) 5.56 rounds from an 11.5” barrel. Seems it has lowest wall penetration while retaining the still-effective incapacitation rate prior to hitting that wall; fragments upon first penetration (sheetrock or perp), minimal effect upon hitting second layer of sheetrock. Best option short of reinforcing/armoring key walls.
Yeah, 5.56 doesn’t have a good reputation, but given the scenario there’s an important tradeoff between doing the job and not doing it “too well”.
To the point of the thread: given a viable application and cold analysis of the problem, average Americans DO need AWs.