The only occasion we saw fit to bother with using a shotgun in Helmand was when we were on a planned mission to go be door-to-door selling lead cookies. Partway through, higher yanked the original mission and made it a soft knock on an HVI (wtf?), and the squad of grunts I was attached to came to the conclusion that it would be nothing more than a paperweight.
The applications of shotguns have diverged into more sporting oriented uses, and specialized uses (breaching, offensive CQC, less lethal), with the specialized uses for LE/Mil being common for units that get special training anyway, with shotguns becoming more an extension of an existing toolset and skillset than a primary weapon system.
On the civilian end, I feel I should do what I can to learn how to fight effectively with shotguns (as wide a variety as possible), even the stuff Clint Smith does with break actions shows that they're the best tools for the money. That said, the only instance I'm looking at a shotgun over a carbine and/or rifle would be a barricaded defense situation - the comfort level is just so much higher with the other two, I'd rather use the less effective (on paper) tool that I'm more proficient with.
عندما تصبح الأسلحة محظورة, قد يملكون حظرون عندهم فقط
کله چی سلاح منع شوی دی، یوازي غلوونکۍ یی به درلود
Semper Fi
"Being able to do the basics, on demand, takes practice. " - Sinister
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