It all depends on your situation. I'm a bit surprised that the moderators on a shotgun thread here on THR would dump on shotguns the way they seem to be.
I live in a pretty rural area, and crime is not big here thankfully. But I am aware that there are bad actors everywhere, and also, people travel. More likely here is problem bears. They have killed my livestock more than once and are known to occasionally break into homes. They are black bears, but where I am can get quite large, as do the deer and the coyote here.
I've got several arms to choose from including modern semi-autos (ARs etc), and during the day generally have a handgun nearby when I'm just doing whatever, but the long gun I run to if there is trouble always seems to be my 870 deerhunter-style smoothbore 12 ga. with an extended tube that I've had for decades. It's slim and pretty easy to stash unobtrusively with a trigger lock, and the manual of arms is baked into my brain at this point. And while I am quite fond of the Remington at this point, in the unlikely event it was stolen it wouldn't be the end of the world. Those are all attributes that are pros for a more urban or suburban dweller too I'd think, as well as the awesome power of the twelve gauge round at close range in just about any loading.
The hunting 870 isn't necessarily ideal for defensive use, and in fact I recently acquired a 1301 tactical, but my point is there are a lot of great reasons to pick a shotgun for home defense. It depends on where the home is and what you're likely to defend against, and what you're comfortable with.
Now as to the capacity question I'm trying to decide whether to get the extended tube setup for my new 1301. Hard to find at the moment and kind of expensive. Unfortunately I got mine just before Beretta introduced the new model, but I can't say I'm regretting the purchase.
Maybe a leather bandoleer. (kidding)
