Glock 19 is the gold standard. Find a range with a rental wall and shoot as many different ones as possible. Ignore the price at first, figure out what you like, then your budget, go from there.

GTFO of Oregon. Move to another state, work to meet that state's culture and expectations, and don't vote like a faggot.

glock 9mm

Anything you can get ammo for at this point.

Go to a gun store. Tell the clerk you want to buy a gun and dont know what to buy. They will let you handle a bunch of guns. Some advice. If you are going to buy a gun make sure you buy ammo with it. Like hundreds of rounds bare minimum. Buy a common caliber. 9mm 45acp. Buy some hollow points. Make sure you shoot the gun. Know how it operates. Take it apart. Learn how to action it, hit the saf, Eject the mag, without looking. Thats your gun let it be an extension of you.

When you read all these suggestions "get this gun" you need to translate that in your head to mean "I like this gun".

One of the most important things about a gun is hand-feel. Does it fit your hand? If you have smaller hands, or are a woman double-stacked full size pistols might not be the best idea. If instead you have flippers , a tiny sub-compact isn't going to work well either.

Disregard anyone who says "you must have X caliber." That's nonsense. .22lr (despite being nearly the smallest common round) can, has, and will kill people.

The first rule of a gun fight is to have a gun.

For self defense against humans .380acp is generally considered the minimum for a quick put down (sometimes referred to as "stopping power" but that's an unscientific term, mostly used by boomers and/or genxers.)

9x19mm (mostly called 9mm, or 9mm luger, or 9mm parabellum) is probably the most common choice as it's the most heavily researched pistol round in existence, cheap, and versatile. Most people would agree, you basically can't go wrong with that.

The chief reason you might want to get something heavier is because you live in Oregon where there are brown bears. A 9mm pocket pistol might not be what i'd like to carry if I were staring down a thousand pound monster, but with good shot placement it will work all the same.

Something to consider is that you will probably want multiple guns eventually- might not seem like it yet. Maybe you get a concealed option for urban environments, something bigger if you're going in bear country (if you're seriously going in bear country, a shotgun couldn't hurt).

A .22 pistol makes for fantastic practice: It's cheap and won't break the bank shooting it. If you can go to an outdoor range try that first, indoor ranges are pretty jarring if it's your first time (i still don't prefer them tbh... too fucking loud)

One note about glocks: they're great guns, but their grip is... aggressive. Not everyone likes it.

comment is great. Go to a store and hold as many as you can. Better yet, go to the range and explane your situation and try shooting a bunch of them. Best option, if you have any gun-nut friends tell them what you posted here: believe me, we're fucking stoked to take people into the fold, and will be happy to show you the ropes and take you out shooting

is spot on about earplugs and muffs.

's comment is decent except the following:

>Reliability is also important, so as you're new to guns a double action revolver is probably the right choice since you just pull the trigger and it goes blam.

This is boomer/genx logic: It used to be good advice when "auto-loaders" as the old-timers call them, were new, and finicky and jammed a ton. If you find yourself in possession of a 1940-85 made auto-loading pistol, yea, it's much more likely to jam. I have a few pistols that have never jammed, and more that have jammed 3-8 times in 1 or 2k rounds. Nothing wrong with revolvers, but with modern technology, the very, very small chance of jamming is almost certainly worth the increased number of rounds.

I'm sure meant well, but a snub-nose is a terrible gun to get as a woman/first time shooter because their recoil will get you trigger-shy. Recoil is related to the mass of the gun (heavier= less felt recoil) the mass of the bullet (same) the length of the barrel and the amount of propellant. gun weight and bullet size are the main two you need to worry about.

Get a reliable double action revolver in .357. I recommend a Ruger GP100 series. Find one with a 3" or 4" barrel. Use FMJ bullets for wilderness carry. You can also load it with +P .38 special JHPs if you want to conceal carry in urban areas.

Glock 17. They are everywhere, they will always be everywhere, the ammo is as available as anything, and they go bang every single time you pull the trigger.