no they are not. despite what you may see in hollywood, the majority of gang shootings are done with handguns. you can look it up through the fbi if you don't believe me. fully automatic firearms are highly regulated in the usa, and there have only been 2 murders committed with legally owned automatic weapons since they were heavily regulated in 1934, and one of those was a police officer. people enjoy shooting all kinds of guns, and until you have experience, its a stretch to say that everyone who might enjoy that is up to no good.

we have between 3-5 million ar-15s legally owned in this country, and the overwhelming majority are law abiding. i've went into this here before, but a shotgun is big and bulky, and depending on the load, has a very heavy recoil which makes it unsuitable for a women or man of smaller stature. on top of that, the majority of buckshot loads common for self defense have a much greater chance of penetrating walls and injuring family members, as opposed to the high velocity, lightweight 55-60 grain 5.56x45/.223 cartridge fired from an ar. hope this helps.