No one ever said that a background check will keep someone from committing murder or suicide. I suppose they would feel better if he has pusher his boss out a window & then jumped to his death?
They may not have said it in so many words, although I believe they did, but they certainly implied that it would. They certainly didn't tell the truth. That criminals get their guns on the street, not from dealers, and that the check is simply the first step to registration and then to confiscation. It also has the effect of forcing the people get government permission before exercising a Constitutional right.
A cheap gun is better than no gun, if that is the only alternative. Although I wouldn't go the .380 route, since at least one of these "cheap gun" makers make a .45 ACP, as well as a .40S&W.
I bought one to see how bad they were. Got 240 rounds through the thing without a single malfunction. Very rapidly downhill from there. Still, the gun was completely reliable for that first 240 rounds and if I'd treated it a bit nicer (i.e. not shot too much in a session, so as to avoid letting the metal get too hot) it might have been good for 500 or so.
Pretty crummy life for a gun, I'll admit, but good reliability within that life.
Problem is none of the "buybacks" these days are as generous as when I bought the thing...