Or, you can be like a friend of mine and buy that SD9, and a Don Hume holster, and afford a 100 round box of WWB ball every month or two for a trip to the local indoor range or the family farm, carry Hornady Critical Defense because it exactly mimics the recoil and POI of the WWB, and be rather well armed right now instead of six months or a year from now.
I don't think we're talking about the same person.
There were posts in this thread about "I can afford it, I just don't want to spend the money". That's the guy I was speaking to. Take the cost of the initial purchase out of the equation as a one-time cost, and budget for the training/practice/carry parts.
This is what I had in mind when I made my posts, and my initial suggestion about this topic.Originally Posted by Chuck Haggard
Add to it those who are not on social assistance, but the "working poor", those who are working but at the end of the month, there isn't that much left over for savings. My 20 yr old step-daughter is a college student who is engaged to a 21 yr old who just started working for Fed Ex loading trucks. She's pregnant. They both have a good head on their shoulders and are trying to build up a savings so as to have a financial cushion. To save up a couple hundred dollars to them is a huge deal. Not everyone will have the money for the new gun or the new tires in the bank. Those individuals who are not on Government assistance, but working two jobs to make ends meet are a classic example.
For my daughters 21st birthday, she is getting a care package that will include and be centered around a new M&P9. But if they weren't part of my family and her fiancé were to ask advice about purchasing a pistol, then the things discussed in this topic is what I would suggest.
I agree with Chuck in that I'd much rather see someone with a SD9 that they've had a little practice with if forced to defend themselves and their family. The "working Poor" of this country also tend to live in areas that have higher rates of personal crime, so the concept of owning a gun for them is less of a want and more of a need.
^This^
I recall working an attempted home invasion back in the early '90s where a young single mom, she grew up in the hood and was trying to get the hell out of it, had the mind set and guts to back some thugs out of her place at the end of a Rossi 4" .38 wheelgun. She didn't shoot even though she wanted to because she was worried about going through the bad guys and hitting the neighbor's apartment.
In conversation she confided that she had bought the Rossi at the a local pawn shop where they sold her the gun and let her buy 12 rounds of 158gr RNL. She shot six rounds into a full metal trash can in the alley to be sure the gun worked, reloaded, and kept the gun on the high shelf away from her toddler. She saved herself from, at minimum, a robbery and rape. Back then we had a serious issue with this sort of crime.
This gal got an early Christmas present the next day of half a box of Federal 125gr +P JHP and a lock box, and a quick tutorial on wound ballistics and what her safe free fire zones were in her apartment should this happen again.
And extra $100 for a better gun, or even ammo, wasn't in her budget.
It is a sad economic irony that the people who most desparately need firearms and training to use them are financally least able to acquire both.We may sit back and laugh at HiPoint , but not long ago a homeowner used one of their carbines to run off some thugs. Having a crappy gun beats not having one at all when the chips are down, and as the esteemed Mr Haggard notes, some people face the choice of a used HiPoint or nothing at all financially.
The Minority Marksman.
"When you meet a swordsman, draw your sword: Do not recite poetry to one who is not a poet."
-a Ch'an Buddhist axiom.
That was good to read.
#RESIST
I just bought a new Beretta M9 for $450. They may not be the cool kid gun anymore but they're very well made, reliable, and accurate.
It's the same way for everything else. Drive by a construction site and see a bunch of wore out old trucks - all the shiny new four wheel drive ones are parked at the mall and will never haul anything more than a bag of groceries. Those that need never have, and those that have never need.
This thread reminds me of when I was a young father and husband. Wife is home taking care of our year old son and we are barely making ends meet. Our city is changing not so much for the better. I found a S&W M1918 .45 ACP revolver for less than $300.00 at a hardware/gun shop. It was dirty and the ejector rod was bent but it worked with some cheap half moon clips. I took a gun safety class from a local gunsmith/trainer who cleaned and straightened the rod free of charge, he described the bore as "experienced". I kept the piece out of reach, unloaded with the moon clips loaded and ready nearby.
The young woman who lived next door was an undocumented entrepreneur and twice her customers woke us at 0200, pounding on our door insisting to be let in. That inexpensive S&W convinced both that this was the "wrong house" as one visitor put it.
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