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The biggest thing you can do to help yourself it get some quality training up front. It will help you with selection of a handgun, as well as give you a degree of competence and safety you probably can't get on your own, and at least not as quickly.

I highly, highly, recommend a course that will occur the first weekend of this coming March (2008) for anyone, first time shooter or not, but especially first timers. I wish I had had this course whenever I began shooting years ago.

The course is John Farnam's Basic Defensive Handgun Course. It will be held in Victoria, Texas, at Dr. Tobin's very nice private range. Course fee is $450, plus $20 for the range. You can buy a decent gun, or a lot of ammo for that, but the training effect will last you much, much longer.

The basic course is usually taught by Vicki Farnam, John's wife, and she knows her stuff. You will get an outstanding grounding in administrative and tactical handling of the handgun. You will be able to handle any autoloader with their methods, and you will get to shoot a variety of handguns. "Administrative" meaning loading, unloading, checking status, and otherwise handling the firearm when not "under attack." Loading and unloading may sound simple, but there are ways to do it that make it much safer and reduce the chance for error, and John (and Vicki) has thought through them very well. "Tactical" meaning how to handle yourself and your gun if you need to defend yourself. Drawing, moving, shooting ACCURATELY, malfunction drills, tactical reloading, holstering, shooting at night with and without flashlight. Again, well-thought out methods that increase your effectiveness and efficiency.

John and Vicki also cover, in excellent depth, the legal and practical bases for use of force, how to avoid those situations if possible, if not how to position yourself as the "armed victim" and not the "crazy guy with a gun," how to deal with the cops afterward, what you need to know as say, and NOT say.

You will be vastly more competent and confident after that weekend. Again, I wish I had run across this years ago.

I wrote up my experiences with the Basic and Advanced courses in the Advanced Training section of this forum -- here's the links:

http://www.texasshooting.com/TexasCHL_F ... f=8&t=7450 (basic)
http://www.texasshooting.com/TexasCHL_F ... f=8&t=7479 (advanced)

Farnam's website is http://defense-training.com

You'll find a list of what to bring to John's courses. If you don't yet have a decent self-defense pistol/magazines and holster and all the other accoutrements, DON"T let that put you off. I can't make promises for Dr. Tobin, but he has been very helpful in the past in arranging the loaning and borrowing of guns. He also has sources for ammo, you could probably arrange through him to have a bunch waiting for you when you get there. I wish I were going again this year, but other (firefighter) training conflicts.

If you are at all interested in this, you can contact Farnam thru the email at his website (he is very good about email replies) or you can PM me, and I will be happy to put you in touch with Dr Tobin (which is what John will do). Dr. Tobin has been sponsoring courses by Farnam and others for a number of years, and is no slouch when it comes to defensive tactics and shooting himself.

If you do want to go ahead and grab a pistol now, I would add one more criterion to your list (and put it first): reliability. It must go bang every time. You cannot go far wrong with a Glock. I like some other pistols better, but it is a solid, reliable defensive handgun and can be had for not exhorbitant amounts of money.

Don't hesitate to PM with any questions.

Good luck.

elb