Where space to maneuver is available, long guns with proper ammo selection are virtually always a better choice than hand guns.
However, I’ll point out a lot of the issues with scoring hits on home invaders at close range are simply due to lack of training, skills and practice on the part of the homeowners.
Anyone who wants to be even moderately competent with a handgun needs to be training all the time. Frequent dry fire and presentation practice couple with not-infrequent live fire training are needed, live fire training should include drills beyond simply bullseye shooting.
People who cannot (or will not) devote significant training time to handguns should really consider them range toys IMHO.
