I'll try this again, this time on the right thread (how embarrassing) "I can't say what I think cause I'd get banned." On the other hand, although I've never felt comfortable around guns, never having been raised around them, I'm very seriously considering the need to get one. This will probably open a whole can of worms, but what would be the best for defending oneself as a homeowner?
I don't own one yet, but I've heard the best home defense is a good 12 gauge pump shotgun. Doesn't have to be fancy, a Mossberg or whatever will do. When the bad guys hear you rack the slide, they know you mean business and will probably leave before you see (and shoot) them.
As for myself, I have a Glock pistol. I'm sure there are more qualified gun nuts around here to give you better (and more enthusiastic) advice.
Oh - and don't forget, a good home defense class (I'm sure the NRA in your area can recommend one) would be a very good idea!
The likelihood of needing to defend yourself in your home is much smaller than of needing to defend yourself elsewhere. If you're only going to have one gun, make it a small portable one, and carry it with you all the time. My carry gun is a Keltec-P32 (.32 caliber). So small and light I can stick it in the pocket of my running shorts and go running. Most of the time it lives in the outside pocket of my handbag. It's hardly big firepower, but the only gun that can save you is one that you have with you when the need arises.
I have bigger ones that I occasionally carry in situations of particular concern. Like when I was meeting a real estate agent at a rural mansion that had been seized from its drug-dealer owner half way through a major remodeling. There was no guarantee that the agent would get there before I did (or be armed), and the ex-owner was living in a small house next door, probably not happy about the prospect of someone else getting the house and land he'd dreamed of as his grand playgound. That was an occasion for my Browning Hi-Power 9mm. My AR-15 lives at my house, waiting for the day that I or my descendants need it to handle a situation like what is happening in New Orleans.
As a homeowner,a 12 gauge shotgun,although a 20 will do.If awakened during the night,still groggy,you're aim doesn't have to be as precise as with a rifle or pistol.