Mate, thats a great question!
I am grappling with that right now, I think you have to be careful as a gun owner that you dont get brainwashed or paranoid.
Ive been asking myself, do i need a shotgun? do i need an assault rifle, if i did purchase them, would it be for the 'right' reasons, i mean technically the shotgun is the best close range home defense weapon, so eventually i may get one, the assualt rifle scares me quite frankly. If you own one of them it is for one reason, to cause as much damage as possible, I dont know if i would feel comfortable owning one, as it would need to be heavily secured, and thus defeats the purpose for home protection.
Like i said great question, i dont do much rifle target shooting (only been once) but my buddy whom i talked about in OP is wanting to take me to the rifle range so we shall see if that long range target shooting is as enjoyable to me.
Do people seriously own AR's on the pretense of "home/self defence?!" Surely an AR would be utterly useless in the event of a home invasion/burglary situation due to the sheer size of the **** thing. I can see the intimidatory power but not the practicality factor.
I can certainly see the point of the shotgun in those situations but surely the sheer amount of mess you are going to make to your own property negates is stopping power? Unless burglars in the US regularly wear kevlar?
I can understand the use of a pistol in the home (light, small, easy to target) or a small calibre carbine (H&K MP5 for example) but the idea that larger arms for "self-defence" is laughable.