I can’t tell you guys how many people have asked me in the last 2 months about firearms, particularly: “If I am buying my first handgun, and can only buy one, which one would you recommend and why?”

While there is a lot of controversy on this subject, most well versed gun experts will at least have my choice in their top 4-5.

If you are a first time gun buyer and are looking for your first handgun, in my opinion, that handgun should be the Glock 19. This is what it looks like:Some of you will be wondering why and these are my thoughts:

1. Extremely reliable. Rarely jams if ever. When I took my firearms training classes in Tennessee, everyone in the course started with many different handguns. All kinds. By the end of the class 2 days later, everyone was shooting either a Glock 19 or a Glock 17. The reason? We were throwing (literally) our pistols into the dirt and everything except the Glocks were jamming. (Although I will say, no one was shooting a revolver).

2. The standard Glock 19 magazine holds 15 rounds. While some may contest that this is extreme, I would say you want as many as possible without needing to reload. If you have the unfortunate experience of needing to use a handgun in self defense, Adrenaline, chaos, fog of war, etc means it is going to be much harder to reload, let alone actually hit your target without consistent training. 6 or 7 rounds might be enough to stop 1 attacker. There was a story in the news a few months ago about a woman who emptied her 6 round revolver at an attacker, 5 of which hit him, and the guy lived. Think about what happens when 2, 3, or 5 people are attacking you.

3. They are very accurate out of the box. Of all the handguns I have ever fired, it was the easiest to get on target. It also has a trigger reset feature so you only have to release the trigger maybe 1/4 of a pull before re-firing.

4. 9mm is a very common, inexpensive round, usually easy to find. (Not so much now due to ammo hoarding). This means it will be cheaper to train with it.

5. 9mm is not as powerful as a .45 or .40 cal, and therefore will be easier to re-sight your target. There are some gun experts who suggest a .22 cal may even be better simply because there is no recoil at all, but I believe a larger caliber is needed to defend yourself.

6. A Glock 19 can be purchased for about $500-$600 depending on where you get it. Bang for the buck, that is very difficult to beat.

7. Glocks are extremely easy to break down and clean.

8. Glocks have their safety built into the trigger. It wont fire unless the trigger is pulled, this includes dropping a loaded Glock.

9. I think the Glock 17 is also a very good choice, but it is full size and a little longer, not as easy to conceal carry.

10. If you live in a state that has a ban on hi cap magazines, a good argument can be made for the Glock 26 (the sub-compact version of the Glock 19). Its very small and as accurate in the first 25-30 feet.

This is what a Glock 26 looks like (obviously not to scale, but notice the barrel and grip are proportionally shorter). In any event, I hope this helps those of you out there who are considering exercising your 2nd Amendment Rights for the first time. Get a Glock 19 and you wont regret it.