In the days after the election, people on social media have been worrying for all kinds of reasons. Some think that Donald Trump will become a dictator or something. Others are worried that Democrats will do something in response to Trump winning a fair election. Whatever your reason for worrying, there’s one thing you shouldn’t do: rush into buying your first gun.
In this article, I want to explain a few things you should consider before going out to the gun shop to make sure you’re not making a mistake.
The Big Thing: Guns Can’t Solve Every Problem
As much as I like firearms, they’re not the right tool for many jobs. The old saying goes, “When you’re holding a hammer, every problem starts looking like a nail.”
Both morally and legally, there are only a handful of legitimate uses for civilian-owned guns: personal defense, recreational shooting, competitive shooting and hunting. If you want to know the ins and outs of hunting, be sure to check with your local game and fish authorities. For personal defense, it’s important to understand gun law as well as proper shooting technique and tactics because the stakes are far higher shooting at people over deer or other game. A hunting violation can result in a fine, while shooting at a person even in self-defense can land you embroiled in the legal system with the possibility of serious jail time. And that’s assuming they don’t shoot back and kill you on the spot!
Guns are only for use as a last resort when it’s a reasonable amount of force needed against an imminent threat of death or great bodily harm. I’d recommend reading this booklet if you want to learn a lot more about what “reasonable” means, as well as everything else in the complicated and incomplete statement I just made in that last sentence.
Guns are definitely not a good answer to losing an election either way.
Training First
There’s a common myth out there that a gun is easy to use, and that anyone becomes an effective user simply by buying one and handling it like you see on TV or in the movies. But, the fact is that you’d be more likely to harm yourself or get yourself in heaps of trouble if you do that. You need to learn basic safety rules, marksmanship and then regularly practice to keep that perishable skill up.
Buying a gun for personal safety is kind of like buying a pet. It’s not a one-time purchase that yields results through mere ownership or having it on you. It’s a commitment.
Buy A Quality Gun
There are an endless supply of opinions on what the best gun is, and many of them are wrong. Going out and buying a subpar handgun is a terrible idea.
I know the comments section will have all sorts of other recommendations, but I’d have to say that you can’t go wrong with a Glock or a Smith & Wesson M&P with an optics cut (so you can add a red dot sight later). Not only can these be found inexpensively (especially police trade-ins or clones like the PSA Dagger), but they’re just decent, basic, no frills guns that will be reliable. They’re not as pretty as a 1911 “BBQ Gun” or some tricked-out race gun, but they won’t let you down.
If you don’t have prior experience shooting and it’s your first gun, go with a 9mm for ease of use as you learn and for plentiful ammo. Many people stick with 9mm after learning, and there’s nothing wrong with that as long as you use a well-constructed expanding round for personal defense.
Commit Yourself To Gun Rights
If you’re buying a gun because you’re concerned about protecting yourself from fascism, you’ve obviously come around to the idea that guns themselves aren’t bad. After all, you think one in your hands would be a good thing. But, you have to keep in mind that people fought hard for hundreds of years to make sure your right to do that remained intact. In fact, thank a veteran today for defending that right!
It’s the height of hypocrisy to take advantage of that and then turn around and act like you’re some special person who deserves those rights while everyone else does not. If rights are only for people with certain political beliefs and don’t apply to everyone else, you’ve joined the ranks of the very fascists you fear. Instead, commit yourself to defending the right to keep and bear arms you’ve now decided to exercise!
“Both morally and legally, there are only a handful of legitimate uses for civilian-owned guns: personal defense, recreational shooting, competitive shooting and hunting.”
Here, let me fix that for you…
Both morally and legally, there are only a handful of legitimate uses for civilian-owned guns: personal defense, recreational shooting, competitive shooting and hunting, and resisting a tyrannical government.
^this
.40, you are correct, but let me add one more reason for owning a firearm. Because I want one.
Which begets “I want another.” =8]
Din, I don’t have that problem. They seem to breed in my safes.
Those who would turn their swords into plowshares will be plowed under.
The glock and m&p are good choices. Most of us live in built up cities. Either or both of those pistols are good and would serve all your needs.
But a good shotgun is cheaper and why not have all three? It never hurts to be really prepared.
I’m a big fan of a .22 rifle as a first firearm. Now that the Marlin 60/795 aren’t being made, I would recommend a Rossi RS22 if you are cheap or poor, and a Ruger 10/22 if you have a bit more cash.
The 12 gauge, 9mm, and AR15 should also be quickly added. The .308, .30-06, 6.5 CM, or .270 (your pick) rounds out the basic firearm battery.
After that, you start adding more pistols, more shotguns, and more rifles. 😁
I gave away two .22 rifles this weekend. When that first big ammo shortage hit I bought a couple of pellet guns and haven’t looked back since.
I also recently bought a pellet gun. 👍
before harmfist went pay to play i was scooping up dianas as fast as they were posted. gave one away, sold another at cost. still have two 48’s, one each caliber, a 460 in.177, a p5, a drozd, a chinese weirauch copy (beeman) for chip gophers and i hot rodded the old crosman mkll i got in high school.
don’t panic, buy your first gun.
fify.
And while you are not panicking, remember that they busted 11000 rnds of 30 cal at the border in TX the day after the election – headed NORTH into Texas.
You can take comfort in the knowledge that (apparently) only XZX thinks the direction of travel is really really really weird.
yep, 11,000 rounds of 7.62 in the quarter panels of a 2011 Honda Ridgeline.
The driver, a 32-year-old Mexican man, arrived from Juarez at the Bridge of the Americas, where a low-energy portal scan of the Ridgeline revealed anomalies.
h ttps://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/immigration/border-coverage/11000-rounds-of-ammo-seized-at-el-paso-border-crossing/
NATO or 7.62X39? Just curious.
it just said 7.62
Flag, in your experience, how unusual is a load of bulk rifle ammo headed north? It is my take that it’s damn near a unique event, but I don’t have much knowledge to go on. I would not have picked up on this one, had I not been bored enough to read the one news story twice. I am having trouble seeing a profit motive – it is kind of like smuggling a ton of meth into Mexico – what the heck would be the point?
XZX, I have no experience with smuggling at our southern border. However, as someone who can usually walk around without bumping into the wall, yeah, that seems odd.
Thanks for the response. Probably some “innocent” explanation – like maybe the mule took a load to Mexico, then forgot to unload it before he went back for more. Or somebody borrowed the wrong truck to go see Granny in El Paso. :p
Probably cartel selling stolen Mexican army ammo to Kamala’s Venezuelan property management gangs.
“don’t panic, buy your first gun.”
Beat me to it.
There’s always a first; S&W .357, Mossy 930, SBH .44, cough 9mm, etc. etc..
“one thing you shouldn’t do: rush into buying your first gun.”
I assume we’re talking about the first gun of the month.
Personally, I would always recommend rushing to buy a gun
And while Gun owning blowbags like void bark at History and the bigoted johnnyboy regurgitates usual-suspects here’s something worth your while…connect the h…
h ttps://youtube.com/watch?v=T770bD5eUBU&feature=shared
LOL
Living rent-free in Debbie Downer’s head!
Well I do tend to hang out in empty spaces.
Learn the law, and train to it.
LEAKED: GOP Senators “Aghast” That The VOTERS Are Getting Involved In Senate Majority Vote.
h ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRiOGrbIzdw
A mite late in the game for yer 1st gat but get on it now! I was late 13 years ago but did my due diligence having owned something like 18 gats. Now at 6 + scads of pepper,knives,machetes,baseball bats & dangerous objects galore. My wife wants a flamethrower🙄Saw a cool one at KB32(Kotoboy YouTube channel).
Democrat wins and people panic buy for fear of bans that actually have precedent.
Republican wins and people panic buy because of deranged enslavement and imprisonment fantasies that ironically have precedent with Democrat presidents.
Just can’t help Democrats. Thankfully they’ll be busy for a while shaving their heads, breaking up with their boyfriends and looking up some ancient poison recipe online. You know, demonstrating to the world that they’re NOT crazy.
Jennifer seems to have a bone-deep fascist streak that I hope she can recover from. NO ONE needs a reason to buy a firearm, other than “I want one”. I see guns every day that I “want”; my budget is my limiting criterion. No one needs Jennifer’s, or anyone else’s, ‘permission’ or approval to buy a gun.
Do I think there are some “best practices” that ANY gun owner should follow, and some specific to becoming a member of POTG??? Oh, HELL yeah! And that’s my opinion, and we know about opinions and certain unlikeable body parts. I (unlike MajorLiar and most other Leftist/fascists) don’t presume to impose my opinion on anyone. You want to buy a new gun, and carry without training?? Aces, Chief, you just bought the responsibility/liability that goes with that.
I am a firm believer that a responsible gun owner needs to do adequate research, education, training – but that’s my OPINION; YMMV.
If you feel that acquiring a firearm is the correct choice for you? Via con Dios. Do what you feel is approtriate for you. If you fail/refuse to educate or train to standards that work for me? Whip your gat out in my presence, for no discernable reason? I might shoot your @$$, and I’d have a pretty solid self-defense claim. Plus, in most places (and in EVERY Leftist/fascist jurisdiction), you should be expecting to be locked up, no matter what the outcome (or how solid your self-defense claim is).
But if you make the choice to own/carry? You just bought the whole package. Freedom comes with a price tag.
she’s just giving some basic advice from her view point aimed at beginners.
Palmetto State Armory has surplus Beretta Model 84 BBs on sale today. That’s a good start.
h ttps://palmettostatearmory.com/beretta-model-84-bb-3-8-13rd-380acp-pistol-le-trade-in-excellent-condition-a5636000000000.html
Just bought a second one.
According to one of my sons who voted Democrat we are all up shit creek without a paddle.
He’s going to lose his job, his union, his medical insurance, his future Social Security, his house, car, everything. All because Trump got elected. Will he buy a gun? No, because Democrats don’t like citizens to be armed.
Remind him that he survived the first term just fine.
I understand there may be a line forming at the Canadian border. But they may well throw out PM Justin Castro.
Perhaps Venezuela or Cuber.
Haha, line forming at the Canadian border! The usual suspects always threaten to leave the good ‘ol USA when they don’t get their way come November. Threaten us with a good time, right? If only they would actually follow through, the liars.
very disappointing. i was really looking forward to cher blowing her brains out, reiner setting himself on fire, bono driving off of a cliff and midler drinking bleach.
and whatever de niro was gonna do.
They didn’t do it for Bush 2x or Trump the first time. Why would we expect results on their promises now? With that said looking forward to the salt mines when we start seeing funding cuts to sanctuary cities and programs supporting illegals. I am sure all those virtue signalers will step up and put their money forward like we have to in fighting gun control laws.
“when we start seeing funding cuts to sanctuary cities and programs supporting illegals”
Illegal immigration is a bigtime racket. Racketeering laws apply. That includes “sanctuary” cities and folks who enable the movement of cartel product, ie illegals.
Hopefully a Trump DOJ will jump on it. It is long overdue.
I am hoping to see human trafficking investigations against a lot of the ngo “charities” involved. Wonder what Catholic Charities is up to lately on a totally unrelated note.
“Perhaps Venezuela or Cuber.”
Their work is mostly done there.
You just can’t be normal for a second, can you?
And by that, I’m talking normal for the general commenter, not for yourself – the steady stream of comments towards you calling you out have no effect whatsoever. You’re a one-trick old nag ready for the glue factory.
Responding to Debbie’s ranting above, as if anyone needed help figuring out what should be obvious
welcome to artificial lack of intelligence.
I dunno it seems to come naturally
Why would anyone panic now? Oh, wait! The left. Yeah, well… they’re always in a panic over something.
I have been swamped at work from almost a quarter of the workforce being out for various mental health sick leave. They may always be in a panic about something but they need to get it together before I get too burned out to enjoy the humor.
Why is this liberal writing subversive articles on a gun website?
DEI has not yet been terminated.
Don’t panic buy your first gun.
That’s good advice.
Just like the time I seen Charlton Heston holding up a flintlock declaring the NRA not one step more. Why I rushed out and tooled up with a blackpowder flintlock only to find it takes 15minutes to load it, a millisecond to shoot it and a day and a half to clean it.
Then what happened, the NRA started back stepping so fast it would have made a Crawfish dizzy.
Damn you, damn you filthy apes.
I ask Mr. Heston how he got the Red Sea to part when he was God, he said it was all smoke and mirrors just like the NRA, Joe Biden, and the Democrat party.
This seems very holier than thou. Do not like, would not recommend.
Commie fan “girl” gonna commie.
When the war starts, nobody is going to give s hit about all that moral and legal crap, or whether you have a permit for your popgun or RPG.
Payback time.
Right on gunnygene
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