[Red in Blue PA]

This is above your price range, but I would save up and get a 1911.

Once you get a 1911, you will never go back.

(And many here will advise getting a Glock. IMO, Glocks are overrated and accidents waiting to happen. Nobody would ever carry a 1911 in Codition Zero, yet this is precisely how Glocks are carried.)

[sauropod]

read

[karnage]

An American must begin with a 1911. All else follows accordingly!

[dagogo redux]

Complete agreement: 1911. Smaller sizes make fine CCWs. You’ll never go back. Full size, “Government” models are too large for CCWs for most people, but are even better for everything else.

[BerserkPatriot]

This is above your price range, but I would save up and get a 1911.

Once you get a 1911, you will never go back.

(And many here will advise getting a Glock. IMO, Glocks are overrated and accidents waiting to happen. Nobody would ever carry a 1911 in Condition Zero, yet this is precisely how Glocks are carried.)

Agreed, my sediments exactly, but to ask a dumb question – what is “Condition zero”.
Do you mean cocked and locked?

[Clinging Bitterly]

...this is precisely how Glocks are carried.

Yep. Don't squeeze the trigger unless you want it to discharge in the general direction the muzzle is pointed.

Same rule applies with any other gun, it seems to me.

That said I must admit a Glock would be a poor choice for a pocket gun. Especially if you were drunk.

[absolootezer0]

Once you get a 1911, you will never go back.

nah. i had a full sized 1911, and still have a compact 1911, but am more likely to carry a snub nose .38 or my sig p220.
the compact is mostly my nightstand gun now. the heavy spring on it ensures that on the off chance that my kids decide to touch it, there's no way they can chamber a round.

[wideminded]

Nobody would ever carry a 1911 in Codition Zero, yet this is precisely how Glocks are carried.)

I looked up Condition Zero and most of the hits refer to a video game. Does it have some other meaning?