Hey yall the current insanity has finally pushed me into a place where I want to purchase a rife for self defense. Do any of you have access to a good guide on purchasing as well as any advice on finding a good firearms safety course/instruction?

EDIT: Wow! Thanks for the responses yall! A handgun wouldnt be ideal for a lot of reasons, and I wouldnt plan on carrying it around on my person anyway; I have pepper spray for that. I also dont plan on using it like in a home intruder situation, I mostly just want to be prepared if things really start to go sideways. I dont want to be the queer who is lead away to the camps without a fight, plus I have greatly enjoyed target shoting the few times I have done it. Mostly I am just looking for advice on what type of rife I should get and what is an affordable way to get it, I dont want to be taken advantage of.

  • SerLava [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I don't know of a guide but here's my 2 cents. An AR-15 is cheap, easy to use, fix, find ammo for, find parts for. In the USA, an AK is a step down in those regards, but still relatively popular so it's not completely unreasonable to own or anything.

    The AR-15 uses 5.56 aka .223 caliber ammunition so it kicks very lightly. But it's still ridiculously deadly because it goes fast as hell.

    A lot of firearms courses will be run by freakish chuds, not sure what to do about that. Even those people tend to kind of mind their own business around gun ranges and don't typically start shit because well, everyone's strapped.

    If home defense is one of the scenarios, keep in mind that your rifle is a laser beam that goes through walls like they aren't there. Including your neighbor's exterior walls to almost the same degree.

      • spring_rabbit [she/her]
        ·
        2 years ago

        But also, the vast majority of rifles that can fire them, can fire both. I have never actually seen a rifle that can fire .223 and not .556, though I suppose they must exist.

      • SerLava [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        True, don't mix them. It's rare that it'll be a problem in a given rifle model but not unheard of.