Hello Everyone

[Tommy_STL]

Hello, everyone, I'm from the St. Louis area. I work as an engineer and my wife is a businesswoman. Growing up, we were never really exposed to guns by our parents, and admittedly we are not experts on the subject matter; but after getting married and going out on our own we always thought it would be a good idea to at least keep one in our house for self-defense. We just never made it a big priority for many years but due to recent events we have become a lot more motivated. We'd also like to carry concealed.

A couple of years ago while my wife was away on a trip, a guy banged on my door at 10 p.m. and tried to get me to let him in by shouting things to make it sound like he was an authority figure of some sort (although he never actually used the word "police"). I dialed 911 but he was gone by the time the cops came. I bring this up because if he had decided to force his way in, I would have been practically defenseless. I had a kitchen knife, but depending on how big he was or what he was armed with, that may very well not have amounted to anything. And sometimes just generally we get the creeps, feeling like somebody is in or around our house and it's not a good feeling. Although it hasn't turned out to be real yet, you never know. We live in a decent neighborhood but no place is immune from crime.

Also because of the recent school shooting in Connecticut and other previous mass shootings, you just never know when some wacko will come around with a gun. If that ever happens, I'd like to have at least a fighting chance instead of just being a sitting duck and would want the same for my wife.

Finally, the reaction of the anti-gun people is absolutely alarming. I don't think they really understand that their irrational ideas and behavior are motivating more people to go out and buy more guns, not less. They won't be happy until we law-abiding citizens have only muskets, while the criminals and crazies still have AR-15s with 30-round magazines. I say muskets because they always say the Second Amendment was written when they only had muskets, so they must have intended for us to be armed with those only. They just advocate this stuff to make themselves feel good and their "solutions" don't really address the real problems in our society that cause mass shootings. And when I debate with them (in another forum) they call me sick and extremist and "gun nut" and all kinds of other names and tell me I have no compassion and don't care about the kids that were killed at Sandy Hook and so on. They are so judgmental and arrogant and insulting and through their talk they betray the fact that they know precious little about guns or gun owners. I may not know that much, either, but then again I'm not the one behaving that way. It's insane.

So my wife and I don't know a lot about guns but we're starting to learn. We went to a gun show today and we bought a very small, inexpensive gun just to start with, that fits within our budget. It's a Sundance .25 ACP. Next month we're going to do our concealed carry class and later in the year we'll buy some new guns for the house as well as concealed carry.

We also joined the NRA on the spot, and a friend of ours recommended we join Gun Owners of America as well so we will do so. We need these organizations to balance out the anti-gun extremists I described above.

Anyway, sorry for the long ramble. I would sure appreciate your recommendations for what kind of guns we should keep in our house for self-defense, as well as concealed carry for each of us, keeping in mind that we're relatively new to gun ownership. I'll also be browsing the various threads to learn more.

Thanks and I look forward to discussing things with all of you. Sorry for the long ramble. Hope you've had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[ANGLICO]

Wow. Welcome here. Ask Questions! I think you will learn, as I did, when I joined.

Best to your wife and you and yours!

Edit Add - Glad you joined. You are exactly who should be here!

[Jaybm]

Welcome aboard !

Born and raised in No. St. Louis, Baden actually, if you know where that is.
Moved to SC in '79 with the job and don't miss that white stuff at all.

J

[GH]

Welcome from Wisconsin, Tommy! You've certainly come to the right place to learn. Good luck in your CC class.

[Ksgunner]

Hello! Welcome From Southeast Kansas!

[Brad426]

Welcome aboard.

[hogdaddy]

Welcome to DC ; )

H/D

[high pockets]

Welcome to the forum!

[archer51]

Welcome from Virginia.

There's a wealth of information on this site. 99% of it is good solid info. Ask questions, you'll find those of us that frequent the site are more than willing to help in any way we can.

[Old Chief]

Welcome Aboard and Greetings from Rocky Top Tennessee

[Jetfuelrm]

Welcome from Southwest Florida

[BurgerBoy]

Welcome from Western Kentucky.

[lchamp]

Greetings and welcome to the forum from the Space Coast of Central Florida. Yes indeed, you have come to the right place to learn about defensive carry guns and practices.

[NCSoxFan]

Welcome to the forum gun ownership. I'm not familiar with Sundance .25 ACP, but have handled and shot many like it. Even though it came at a great price there's a good chance you'll become frustrated once you start practicing with it. Hopefully you have access to a range where you can rent something with a larger frame and take some lessons to become proficient with handling firearms. Best of luck.

[Hiram25]

Welcome from Delaware!