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Carbine is a good choice, if you train to use it, particularly under stressful conditions.

Ease of use goes to the shotgun, but there too some training is a good idea. You might want to search for a 'tactical shotgun' or 'intro to tactical shotgun' type of class in your area. Or, meet up with some of our northern contingent for a day on the range.

At a minimum, pattern the loads that you intend to run for self defense. i.e., shoot a target with your shotgun from different distances so you get a solid image in your head of how effective it is or isn't at those distances.

It's pretty hard to go wrong with a modern shotgun of any American / European brand. There are also some very reasonable shotguns coming out of Turkey. However, there are some(all?) Chinese guns that I would steer clear of.

Semi auto will certainly mitigate felt recoil if that's a concern.

As mentioned, what's your intended purpose? Home defense?