Thinking about this more, there's only two situations that would allow only one handgun: poverty or legislation.
In the first case, poverty, it would be due to one of two causes: personal poverty (ie, loss of job, illness, poor financial decisions, whathaveyou), or widespread economic failure. Call these 1a and 1b.
Legislation. No need for further explanation. Case 2.
1a) Personal poverty. The gun I would choose would be one of the two I listed in my previous post in this thread, for the reasons posted. This case would be assuming society as we know it now continues. Feeding myself with the handgun is not a requirement, so self defense is the motivation here.
1b) Economic failure. I still can't see using a pistol to feed myself, so this would be for personal protection in the potential anarchy resulting from complete economic collapse. If I'm using a gun to feed myself, I'm going to go with the accuracy and range of a rifle, even if just a .22 rifle. Whereas in the previous case, continued support of the pistol would be a consideration (either Ruger for long term durability, or Glock for durability and parts availability), in this case, capacity for use against the zombie like mobs will be more of a consideration, as well as ammo availability. Think 9mm with 33rd mags here. However, I have a hard time seeing this as a limiting factor for me, as I already own more than one handgun, so unless I went through case 1a first, 1b would not prevent ownership of more than one handgun.
Finally, the most likely reason to consider the "only one handgun" scenario, is:
2) Legislation. Here, cost will likely not be as much of an issue, but versatility and reliability would be critical. So, like GTG said, something that supports multiple calibers would be ideal. So I would be looking at the Glock platform, probably 23 for concealability if necessary, can shoot .40, .357 Sig, 9mm and .22 lr with "only one" serial numbered firearm. However, for this case, something like the Sig 250 platform where the serial numbered firearm is the fire control unit, not the frame itself, would allow a large frame for times when size did not matter, or sub compact for times when it did (daily carry). Multiple caliber support, multiple "frame size" for "only one handgun."
In the first case, poverty, it would be due to one of two causes: personal poverty (ie, loss of job, illness, poor financial decisions, whathaveyou), or widespread economic failure. Call these 1a and 1b.
Legislation. No need for further explanation. Case 2.
1a) Personal poverty. The gun I would choose would be one of the two I listed in my previous post in this thread, for the reasons posted. This case would be assuming society as we know it now continues. Feeding myself with the handgun is not a requirement, so self defense is the motivation here.
1b) Economic failure. I still can't see using a pistol to feed myself, so this would be for personal protection in the potential anarchy resulting from complete economic collapse. If I'm using a gun to feed myself, I'm going to go with the accuracy and range of a rifle, even if just a .22 rifle. Whereas in the previous case, continued support of the pistol would be a consideration (either Ruger for long term durability, or Glock for durability and parts availability), in this case, capacity for use against the zombie like mobs will be more of a consideration, as well as ammo availability. Think 9mm with 33rd mags here. However, I have a hard time seeing this as a limiting factor for me, as I already own more than one handgun, so unless I went through case 1a first, 1b would not prevent ownership of more than one handgun.
Finally, the most likely reason to consider the "only one handgun" scenario, is:
2) Legislation. Here, cost will likely not be as much of an issue, but versatility and reliability would be critical. So, like GTG said, something that supports multiple calibers would be ideal. So I would be looking at the Glock platform, probably 23 for concealability if necessary, can shoot .40, .357 Sig, 9mm and .22 lr with "only one" serial numbered firearm. However, for this case, something like the Sig 250 platform where the serial numbered firearm is the fire control unit, not the frame itself, would allow a large frame for times when size did not matter, or sub compact for times when it did (daily carry). Multiple caliber support, multiple "frame size" for "only one handgun."
