I always love these 'cheap gun' threads where somebody starts talking out their 4th point of contact about how "If your life is only worth $169 go buy a HiPoint, har har har!"
Must be nice to afford $400 for a good police-trade Glock. Or $300 for a Ruger or a Taurus. Or $250 for a police-trade S&W.
I'm fortunate enough to be able to spend some cash on nicer guns. And I've gotten some nicer guns for really good prices, like a nice police-trade S&W 10-6 HB 4" for $159.
But y'all who start bashing HiPoints, C&Rs and any gun that costs less than any arbitrary dollar amount- Y'all ever been dirt poor and broke, with a psycho stalker ex-boyfriend and a court system that thinks a TRO is as good as a jail cell? Ever had to choose between paying the electric bill's final notice or getting that flat tire replaced so you can stop running on the donut spare for another month?
You can pick up a HiPoint C9, a Polish PA64 Makarov, or an 1895 Nagant revolver for well under $175.00 with a box of ammo and a gun lock, including sales tax. Any of them will perforate a goblin quite nicely, but they won't look all sexy under the flourescent lights in the evidence cage like a nice Glock or Kimber.
As long as in my examination the pistol was mechanically safe to fire its designed ammunition, price would not even come into the equation. I've got a 25 auto vest-pocket that I paid $10 for. I've got a couple of free guns. All of them go bang. Price has nothing to do with utility. Certainly there are some poorly made inexpensive guns which would be bad choices for defense use, but there are also some really solid guns that go for cheap if you look.
Judging purely on price? Stupid. Discriminatory. Don't do it.
Sure, my life or anyone's life is worth "more" than a $99 used HiPoint C9. But I just may not be able to afford better. Not that I wouldn't wish to have better, I just don't have the money.
Sure, you say- Take that $150 for the HiPoint and put it in an envelope, and then add to it for a couple months and then you could maybe afford a $400 Glock.
Assuming nothing happens to suddenly lay claim to that little envelope of greenbacks- maybe a kid gets sick, or the car breaks down, or some other unexpected bill crops up- Or maybe that psycho stalker ex-boyfriend will kick in your door, strangle you, and pocket that envelope of cash when he attacks you THIS month. Oh well. At least you were saving up!
