I grew up with guns, and never paid much attention to shotguns, and now I think they're one of the best types of "small arms".

You can load them with light-recoil target rounds (which is super-fun), small game loads (for hunting rabbit, turkeys, etc), or load them with 00 Buck-shot, or a slugs (for large game, self defense, or shooting through multiple barriers).

If you have the option to shoot one at the range, I highly recommend it!