Lookin to buy a Hand Gun (Skawty)

Dev tells me you (skawty) know a bit about guns. Ive fired a couple of .22 revolvers and a couple of shot guns and .22 rifles a while back. Something happened recently thats really made me realize even more that i should get one. I been thinking about it for a little while, just lookin for a few opinions on what to get. I've decided either a 9mm or a .45 but im leaning more towards a 9mm. Price isnt too much an issue but i dont want to go above 800 really, although theres a few guns i like that are like 1200 bucks.

Anyway, just lookin for some feedback on what to look into more and if you know of any places i could browse for info online. Ive googled my way into some forums to read up on random stuff.

Thanks for your time and wisdom.

I dont know a whole lot, so I'll try to help a little.

If its purely for self-defence just get a 9mm. If you want to be a badass get a 45.

Just google guns and find a place near you (I dont know where you live) and there should be plenty of pawn shops and stuff to get something that shoots real cheap. If you live more near a city you should have a cool gun store somewhere and you can get something nice. It shouldn't be hard to find someone nice that'll talk with you straight and get you set up.

I've never directly known anyone too use it but I hear this site is good, I browse it all the time.
http://www.gunbroker.com/

I know a pretty good bit about all kinds so feel free to ask me if you see me online. What you should get really just depends a lot on what you'll be using it for. If you're shooting targets for fun, pretty much whatever you want will be fine, looking cool is half the fun anyway right? Competitively/semi-competitively I'd recommend a Browning Buckmark, it's a semiauto 22 that's easy to clean and once you find a round it likes you shouldn't have any problems out of it. They come with a lot of options, mine is a Buckmark II with a full length mount that will hold pretty much any sight that you could possibly want.

For self defense there's a lot of things to consider. For one, you will want something that's fun enough to shoot that you'll want to practice with it because if you aren't practiced you'll be just as likely to hurt yourself or another innocent victim as you are your target. Another thing to consider is how much stopping power you think you need, though at the end of the day, nothing you could feasibly carry will be able to 'drop' a guy so again, practiced placement is going to be more important than the caliber. You also don't want to go too big because a massive cartridge discharged indoors at night will flashblind you and put a ringing in your ears so bad you may as well be deaf.

In all honesty though, just presenting a gun is going to be more than enough to neutralize a threat in most situations, and the likelihood of you ever needing it in the first place are very low to begin with. All I can really say is get something that you'll feel safe shooting and shoot it until you feel safe carrying it and then some.