Is there a gun you would recommend for personal safety for someone that doesnt know much about them?
If you're looking for home defense, the AR-15 and AK-74 are king (not the 47 though). High velocity, light bullets don't penetrate walls as badly as higher weight projectiles do, plus you get 30 rounds per mag or more (unless you live in a state that has mag capacity limits) and they have very manageable recoil. The age of the shotgun is over for home defense.
Sorry, but you're wrong on that. The shotgun is still considered the best self defense weapon to own for house defense. 5.56x45mm NATO most definitely has over penetration problems, especially if you have other loved ones living with you in the house. Not to mention how finicky the AR-15 is with feeding and closing the bolt correctly (although proper maintenance on a modern AR-15 platform weapon helps negate this by the boatload compared to earlier equipment) doesn't put this weapon anywhere near the reliability of a pump action shotgun. It's not even in the same ball park. The AK-74 is super reliable, but you still face the over penetration problem, including THROUGH the target's body.
The shotgun stands as the ultimate home defense weapon, period. And any self defense or tactical school will tell you the same.
Here's the thing, nothing that you're saying is backed up by ballistic evidence. The facts are: high velocity, light bullets penetrate fewer walls than low velocity, heavy bullets. 5.56 will penetrate fewer walls than 00 buck, can have more rounds, with less recoil. Does 5.56 penetrate a lot of walls? Yes. Is it as bad as buckshot, slugs, pistol calibers, or heavy rifle rounds? Absolutely not.
I won't judge your choice of defense weapon, hell I'm a hypocrite using an AK-47 for my home defense, but do some actual research before parroting false information spread by fudds.
I have done my research, and what you are saying I disagree with. Well, SOME of it. Here's my point: The 5.56mm will stray a little but still travel through wall after wall, even after piercing the intruder. It has been tested time and time again. The buckshot is more likely to stop IN THE TARGET and lose a huge amount of its velocity than 5.56mm, even if the 5.56mm will lose energy faster in a straight drywall shot. You don't want to be firing where loved ones are in the backdrop at any rate, but there's a reason a pump shotgun is still regularly recommended for home defense. Especially to anyone new to firearms. ---
Hoppe hoppe Reiter, und kein Engel steigt herab mein Herz schlagt nicht mehr weiter, NUR DER REGEN WEINT AM GRAB