After a few years of actually taking real fighting classes, one of the most common things every instructor told us was, “get a white light” on your fighting weapon.    There are some handgun options where you can hold a flashlight while using a handgun and not have a fixed light on it which makes holster options very limited.   The Section8 Tactical ultimate retention device is a good tool to use, but this isn’t recommended for using with a shotgun or carbine.  I recenltly finished a training course where we used lasers for defensive purposes.   The best tactical for using lasers is knowing when to turn them off.   Yes, using a flashlight or laser is a giveaway, but spotlighting a threat and identifying it is paramount.

The 2nd most common suggestion for a home defense weapon is the shotgun.   Setup a target at 15yds and put 9- 9mm bullets in center mass, then pick up a shotgun with OO buck and pull the trigger.   The shotgun will will that argument every time.   Shotguns are almost always heavy and can be awkward to shoot in some situations, primarily the most commong pump action ones.   ATI Rifle Stocks have a pistol flashlight accessory that works well for putting white light on your shotgun.   You can easily take that $180 used Remington 870 that was being sold at your gun shop and convert it into a brutal close quarters fighting weapon.   I strongly recommend getting the stock length to the appropriate LOP.    I’ve seen plenty of lazy people think they will be find in a course until they get down and dirty and end up punching themselves in the nose with their strong hand when the gun recoils.