Smokepoledoug--you're right; at distances inside a home, anything hit with a shotgun is going to be in serious trouble. However, the point that the posters who are advocating birdshot are trying to make, is that you don't want whatever is on the other side of the miscreant to get hit with a slug, or buckshot, that has completely passed through the 'target.'

I've got #2s right now, though I may change that, based on where my wife and I move to.