Biden said women should use shotguns for home defense--was this stupid?

The gun crowd had a big laugh about Joe Biden's advice for women to use shotguns for home defense.

The gun crowd mocked Biden, talked about how stupid he is about guns, and posted YouTube videos showing women being knocked on their butts when they try to fire their boyfriends' shotguns.

But anyone who knows anything about shotguns knows that the average woman can find a shotgun she can handle, and adjust it to fit her dimensions and strength. Which makes the statements of these gun nuts both sexist and ignorant about guns, which they claim to be experts about..

Or maybe they actually know better but figure you don't, so they can get away with lying to the rest of us.

True, most women can't handle a standard 12 gauge shotgun. So what? Who said all shotguns are 12 gauge models sized for men? Biden didn't.

The problem for most women is that most shotguns are designed for men's dimensions and strength. But a 20 gauge shotgun has less recoil while still having plenty of stopping power for home defense. A semiautomatic shotgun has less recoil for whatever gauge it is, because part of the gas expansion got to reloading the next shell instead of recoil--and it enables the user to get off more shots quickly.

There are also lower-power loads for shells, and even smaller-gauge shotguns-- 28 gauge and even .410s. Those have less stopping power, but most crooks are not going to be standing there evaluating the stopping power of a given shotgun. Most will be hightailing it out of there once they find themselves staring down the big barrel of a shotgun.

As for dimensions, you adjust the gun's cast, pitch, length of pull, drop at the comb, and drop at heel, to make it fit the different dimensions of most women.

For more information about women shooting with shotguns, read the article "Women and shotguns" in that noted Commyewnist online publication Shotgunlife.com:

Bottom line for people who aren't gun owners: don't trust ANYTHING the gun nut crowd says about guns. I've found that they don't hesitate to lie to non-gun owners about firearms.