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.
Not a direct answer, but here's a homegrown starting point: https://hexbear.net/post/3356
This also is fairly useful: https://www.reddit.com/r/SocialistRA/comments/gzyya5/stop_recommending_larp_guns_to_newcomers/
Also, what SerLava said. If you can drop a decent sum, a Ruger MPR is a great midrange (in price/quality) AR-15 model. If you want to deal-hunt and understand the firearm better, you can dig around for the right info and put your own together. You may also want to consider a handgun, since you could conceal it (either legally, or illegally if you needed to in an emergency), and it would be more accessible if you need to defend yourself quickly.
This is where you need to think about what sort of situation you'd defend yourself in. Is your concern that some individual is going to attack you at home, or do you want to be able to defend yourself if there is some sort of a militant uprising in your area? Do you feel like you need the day-to-day availability of concealed carry?