I need to get a gun but I’ve never handled one before and don’t know what to get.
Will it be only one gun? Do you live in an apartment or kind of rural, family?
Do you lean toward a rifle or pistol, or shotgun? Are you male or female?
Do some research, type of gun depends on what your main use is, concealed carry, home protection, etc. Also age and hand strenth can be a factor (it was for my mother).
then go to a good gun range and ask them and test fire several ones. I have a Ruger, a Baretta and a Bersa (all semi autos) for my handguns and my mom has a Taurus 7 shot revolver with an easily adjustable trigger. For her, a revolver has less of a chance of misfiring and/or jamming which considering her weakness could be an issue in a semi-auto.
The hole should point away from you; directly at the bad guy.
When the little lever is pulled, there will be a load noise.
If you had the hole pointed in the right direction; there will be another hole in the bad guy.
If he is still moving, repeat the pulling of the little lever until he isn’t.
If the load noise does NOT occur after pulling the little lever, the safety may be on or the gun may not have any little brass cylinders in it.
Buy a good 12 or 20 gage shotgun (I reccommend the Maverick 88 20 gage pump with an 18 1/2 barrel (saw off the long barrel to 19 inches if need be). Buy a couple of hundred 20 gage rounds and practice hitting what you point at. Then load a few #2 buckshot rounds in the shotgun and hit you target with those, then load the mag with those for home defense.
If you want a pistol to carry around, look into the Bersa .380 single stack. But practice often with this tool if you intend to stake your life on it.
If you want a pistol for around the house, buy a .357 revolver with 4 inch barrel and load it with 38 special +P+ hollowpoints.