A shockwave is never going to be as easy to get on target or use in rapid fashion as a shotgun with a proper stock.

This is not to say that it cannot be used effectively.

I think that the Shockwave is an excellent application for a visible laser. One of the green Crimson Trace units can be very effective if trained with properly.

It's the whole "if trained with properly" thing that tends to get in the way. If you have good technique the shockwave style guns won't beat you up. Most people do not know how to run the gun properly so they won't find shooting these to be particularly enjoyable...certainly not enough to train with them.

I'm in the process of acquiring a Mossberg shockwave as we speak because A.) I can get one stupid cheap through a hookup B.) Since I teach shotgun it's going to come up.

I plan to equip mine with an XS replacement sight and then I'm going to play with a laser to see what I can really do with it.

I would likely have no problem using the gun for home defense if I had to. In fact, one of the attractions to having the Shockwave is that I can have a snub-nosed 12 gauge that will fit in a suitcase when I travel. Great for those occasions when I'm in a hotel room or in my grandmother's terrible neighborhood filled with felons.

But...and this is a big but...I'm good with a shotgun. I've spent a lot of time learning to use one in a defensive context and I have solid technique. Since I'm better than the average bear with a scattergun I can take the performance hit of losing the stock and still be effective at the kind of distances such a thing is going to be used. That may not be the case for everyone else.

So the answer comes down to this: Sure, you can use it IF you train with it. Or IF you already have a significant level of training on running the shotgun properly. If it's your first foray into using a shotgun as a home defense weapon it's probably not the right solution for you.

Shotguns are the most lethally damaging weapon available to us. To get something more destructive on a per-shot basis than a proper load of buckshot at close range we have to start talking about ordnance.

...but shotguns aren't magic. We have to actually hit a dude in something important for all that power to do us any good. It's considerably more difficult to do that without a stock on the shotgun.

I think a visible laser would be preferable, too. An RDS would certainly not be a bad idea but without the benefit of a cheek weld it's more difficult to find the dot consistently. A visible laser can still be used effectively in the eye line but since it is projected on the target itself you don't have to worry about finding the dot.