Buying a gun for the first time can be a scary proposal. We understand and that is why we have prepared this guide to assist you in through process of buying your first gun. Remember that this is only a guide and that it is intended primarily for those of you living in the United States. Even though the 2nd Amendment to the national constitution recognizes your God given right to keep and bear arms, many localities in this country have chosen to disregard your rights and freedoms in favor of laws that prohibit citizens from utilizing a firearm for self defense. Therefore, you should seek legal advice from a qualified individual and understand the laws of your specific community before attempting to buy a gun. This web page is simply a guide to make the process of buying a gun easier. You are ultimately and solely responsible for complying with your local laws and voting for representatives that will support pro-gun laws.
Find a gun store with friendly and helpful personnel. Nice places like, www.virginiaarms.com www.dominionshootingrange.com or The Shooter's Den Gun shop in Winter Park Florida. Or you can also look for a national sporting goods store chain like Bass Pro Shops or Gander Mountain or a local store that sells hunting equipment. You can do searches on the web at www.google.com and type in words like firearms or guns and your zip code to find local stores. Once you're there, a good gun store will have friendly people there to assist you in learning how to comply with your local law and tell you what you need to buy a gun lawfully. If you live in a place like New York City or Washington D.C., forget about buying a gun. At the time of this writing, guns are illegal in these places and only the criminals have them. Get your laws changed or move someplace where it's safer to live.
Start out with a revolver as opposed to an "auto". (Slang for autoloader or semi-auto.) A revolver is one of those cool looking guns with the revolving cylinders in the middle of the frame like in the cowboy movies. TV shown like Simon & Simon showed both characters using revolvers. Dirty Harry's gun was a huge revolver called a Smith & Wesson model 29. You can see photos of revolvers at manufacturer's web sites like www.ruger.com, www.taurususa.com and www.smith-wesson.com. The advantage to a revolver is that you can load the gun and lock it away for long periods of time with minimal maintenance. They can be drawn out quickly and fired by just pointing and pulling the trigger. If you are a female, an autoloader has the disadvantage of requiring strong grip strength between your thumb and forefingers to chamber a round and have it ready to shoot. Autoloaders are also a good way to break your fingernails. Semi-autos/autoloaders are relatively flat and look like the one you see James Bond carrying. You can see examples on an autoloader at www.glock.com and other firearms manufacturer web sites. Look through the handguns you see on our web site and try to identify the autoloaders and the revolvers.
The gun that you choose should feel comfortable in your hand. We also recommend that you choose a handgun that fires a .38 caliber bullet or larger. Bullets like .38 Special, 9 millimeter Luger, .357 Magnum, .40 S&W and .45acp are the best. Bullets smaller than 38 caliber will not reliably stop a large, violent male attacker. Small calibers like .22, .25, .32 and .380 are not recommended for personal self defense. If you choose a revolver, we would recommend that you buy a .357 Magnum because this revolver will accept both the soft and easy to shoot .38 Special bullets as well as the heavy, hard hitting .357 magnum rounds. There is much more versatility in choosing ammunition for a .357 Magnum revolver. If you choose an autoloader, you will want to go with calibers like 9 millimeter, 40 caliber or .45acp.
Keep your handgun clean. Choosing a stainless steel handgun over the dark blued steel handgun will make maintenance easier. Stainless steel is more forgiving when it comes defending against rust. Finger prints must be wiped off of blue steel guns after every use or they will turn to rust prints. Stainless steel can rust but it's very difficult to accomplish. Any gun you buy will require that you keep it clean and properly lubricated at all times. We use CLP/Breakfree on all of our guns to clean, lube and protect them. (No, we're not being paid by anyone we're mentioning on this page.)
Sign up for an N.R.A. approved safety course from a certified instructor. You can visit their web site at www.nra.org. Practice using your firearm at a gun range regularly. A gun does you no good if you miss your attacker.
Very important note here... Keep all firearms where children can not have access to them! Thanks for reading. We hope you find that this page has been helpful to you. Feel free to ask us if you have any additional questions. Click on "about us" for contact information.
