The racking of a shotgun is superfluous if you have already given a verbal warning, which itself is a generous luxury that home invaders are not generally entitled to.

I am not fond of the idea of announcing myself to intruders. Depending on the circumstances, illumination is probably the closest thing to a warning they are likely to get. Unlike the ostentatious gesture of racking the shotgun, using a light actually has some tangible benefits.

Since you mentioned training, I have to say that I am unaware of any reputable trainer that recommends condition 3 for any weapon.

I strongly suspect that the origin of the “Cruiser Ready” concept was primarily as an attempt to keep police from having negligent discharges. Bureaucrats often come up with solutions like that. The military uses a similar rationale as justification for their even worse policy of mandating condition 4 weapons when not “outside the wire”.

If you have poor weapons handling skills and have no intention of actually training to correct your deficiencies, then perhaps “cruiser ready” is just the solution you were looking for.

I rarely see anyone endorsing condition 3 for a pistol or rifle that is being used for home defense. The sound of working the action on a pump shotgun apparently has a unique magical power of striking terror in the hearts of evil-doers.

Your reasons for not keeping a round in the chamber are not 'obvious' (nor safe) My defensive guns are loaded (that means a round in the chamber) and inaccessible to those without explicit access. I don't assume that I will have the luxury of playing challenge and password with my intruders.

I am betting that if I yelled “I am armed and I will shoot you” then I have all of the legal justification to not bluff on my opener. If you are unconvinced by my statement than you will be convinced by lots of feeble, little, handgun-like rounds ripping through your meat. (I'm lying a bit here, my shotgun is loaded with slugs and it's a backup to my AR)

If you choose to defend yourself with unloaded guns then knock yourself out. If you want to assume that the threat is rooms away and you have time to get your gun loaded then knock yourself out. If you want to believe that you have time to yell at them AND they are going to care, then knock yourself out.

Something that everyone reading this should think about, if you are going to buy any type of gun for defensive purposes :

1) get trained in the proper use of that weapon

2) most importantly before you purchase a weapon, be very sure that you have made up your mind that you will defend yourself or family, using whatever reasonable force needed to repel an attack or home intrusion including the use of deadly force. If you cannot make this decision before hand you have no business with a gun

Back in my goofy college years I was quite surprised to find out how small a “pattern” a shotgun makes at fairly close ranges. Also, how big a hole a load of 12ga birdshot makes in a car door. Well, in the steel exterior of a car door anyway, since that’s what we had handy.