Been into guns all my life, have lots, was issued an M-16. Way past being impressed with cosmetics and hype and idiots who shoot out the window in situations or think the rack of a pump sound has magical powers.
There was a home invasion thing just down the road not long ago. My wife and 3 year old actually passed the perp on the road, on the way to work and day care, at 6:15 AM. Cops never did find him, although I had them interview the wife on the phone.
Gotcher "assault" thingies including mini-30 and some of much higher quality, scatterguns in all the popular flavors, revolvers, and automatic pistols. But it's a pump 12 for me, Mossberg tactical with the 8 round mag and 00 buck all down the tube. Short, stable, reliable, wife can handle and knows what she's doing. For a sidearm my first choice would be the GP-100 'cause I like wheelguns and can hit anything with it at the range, but it won't be at the range, and the gun you don't have on you is useless. Hence Glock 27 to fight my way back to the pump. Tried 'em all and that's what I came up with.