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Unless you live in a mansion, you are going to get baseball sized groups with standard barrel lengths and loads at home defense distances.
With the open choke I get half the large target's chest pierced with twenty .25 pellets (#3 20ga) at 10 yards. If by home defense distances you mean 5 yards, then I agree with you, but it is hard to miss at 5 yards even with a pistol.
Not saying pump would be ineffective, but semi auto is a viable option, and you have the opportunity to dump much more lead if you need to.
Pumps can be very, very fast in trained hands. I shoot+pump+reacquire as a single complex motion. However, it is not a sport; dumping too much lead too fast has its drawbacks too - you are increasing the chances of collateral damage and you are completely wasting your hearing. Hearing is 1 of the 5 reasons to live.
There are some other pros as well to semi auto's.
To me the major pro is the reduced recoil (and therefore faster target re-acquisition). However, 20ga with a Knoxx stock & Limbsaver recoil pad is very mild too.
Another argument in favor of a semi-auto is that you do not have to keep your off arm extended (when the action is closed and the forend is further away from the receiver), which can be hard for smaller shooters since shotguns are heavy. A cheap and light Weatherby SA-08 Youth in 20ga would work fine for them.
I have inexperienced shooters in my home, and in my book, a semi-auto is more appropriate.
I also had inexperienced shooters in my home, but I considered it my duty to make them experienced. Honestly though, I just selfishly wanted my hobby to be whole-family fun. )