The police chief in Indianapolis said they took a shotgun from the murderer and he was able to buy a "more powerful weapon than a shotgun".

Assuming the idiot bought an AR in .223, is it really more powerful than a shotgun?

At distance, it would be but it got me to thinking about a shotgun's power. The energy is never listed.

So when trying to calculate the "power", how do you do it?

Hornady has a 12ga #4 Buck listed at 1350fps. 24 pellets at 20grains each. Do you add them together for a 480 grain projectile? 1940 foot pounds at the muzzle. Or do you look at each one for a paltry 80 foot pounds?

It is potentially more lethal since it is sending 24 rounds at once, but more powerful? I don't know.

I chose #4 since it is close to the same diameter as a .223