3rd - rifles are long range weapons - even carbines and though they will put down a BG at close quarters as well as a handgun or shotgun there's a real good reason they usually aren't used for that. I won't go over the reasons we've all heard them a thousand times before.
The reasons have been brought up, and debunked, time and time and time again. Overpenetration is exaggerated, and as has been pointed out there's actually a GREATER problem of overpenetration with many handgun rounds or buckshot than with a proper HD rifle bullet. Besides, every time you miss with a short gun, you send a bullet going lord-knows-where.
If you really think you're going to be more accurate and lethal with a handgun than a carbine in close quarters--more power to you. But most of us know the carbine is vastly superior in every respect.
As far as fighting your way to a long gun, I don't mean shooting and doing a TJ Hooker roll. I mean using the handgun to cover you until you get to your long gun, then taking the long gun and proceeding.
A HANDGUN IS A DEFENSIVE WEAPON
A HANDGUN IS A DEFENSIVE WEAPON
A HANDGUN IS A DEFENSIVE WEAPON
Learn it, live it, love it.
If you're going to go INTO a dangerous situation, whether that's in your house or on some battlefield, you should always have a long gun at your shoulder whenever possible. There's a very good reason soldiers don't go into battle with sidearms. The ONLY exceptions over the past THREE HUNDRED YEARS of warfare I know of were the tunnel rats, and they only used 1911's because they were going into very, very confined spaces. Spaces far more confined than anyone's home.
" Know that the pistol has no value, we practically don't use it. "
Mordechai Anielewicz, Warsaw Ghetto, April 23, 1943