I Bought a Handgun

I bought a handgun. A Beretta XP4 Subcompact to be exact. In 9mm flavor. Some people may think I bought a handgun because I'm a raging right-wing, Ted Nugent head-banging Conservative. And while all of that is true, that wasn't the reason I bought it.

I believe that most people buy a handgun for self defense. Although I doubt many are used for that purpose outside of military and law enforcement. I personally believe that a handgun is just a fair solution in most self defense situations. Although I doubt many are used for that purpose outside of military and law enforcement. I know people would love to argue that point. But the first requirement in being safe is being aware of your surroundings, bright lights, and good locks. While I don't expect any drug crazed illegal terrorist immigrant to try breaking my door down., and I don't think there will be a nuclear accident that will create zombies roaming around the local Kroger supermarket in my lifetime. Most self defense situations involve some type of home invasion. I've got a 30 year old shotgun under my bed that makes a better weapon. Even with a few rust spots on the barrel, there aren't many people who wouldn't recognize the sound of a pump shotgun being racked and realize they aren't welcome in my house. I suspect that sound alone would be cause enough for the invader(s) to beat a hasty, but prudent, retreat.

Technically, it's not my first handgun. About 25 years ago I bought a Ruger .22 Mark II target pistol. But I moved to Texas a couple of years ago, and the people here don't consider that a "handgun". Here, a .22 is barely robust enough to shoot dragonflies off the back deck, let alone shooting the random wandering armadillo Calling a .22 a weapon would have William Travis and the boys from the Alamo spinning in their graves.

Upon mentioning to the guys I work with that I had taken my son to a shooting range, the subject of hardware came up. When I said I shoot a .22 Ruger they laughed like I said I enter a Toyota Prius in a monster truck contest. And while I have a few friends here that would say that even a 9mm isn't a serous handgun caliber, and that a 14 round clip of 9mm isn't big enough to do anything but annoy a zombie, at least now I can take my son to the shooting range without violating any serious Texas man laws.

My son and I will enjoy some quality time at the shooting range. I'm not expecting to see any terrorist or zombies strolling around my neighborhood, I doubt they could afford the homeowner's association dues. But there are quite a few Democrats here...