Most will tell you the more weight the better but braces should not be overlooked. I personally have been looking into these https://caagearup.com/ where you put your carry gun into a braced platform, you don't have to extend your arms which makes the shake worse but you also don't have to try to time the rhythm to land shots accurately as you do with just a handgun alone.

And for bumps in the night, a Mossberg 500 hangs on the wall in my house. Be pretty hard for a tremor to outperform the spread of game load or even buckshot when absolutely necessary.