Whenever a student asked one of my mentors, Tim O'Rourke, "what is the best gun" he would answer "The closest loaded one". That always made pretty good common sense to me. If there is an "el cheapo" $150 9mm High Point pistol within reach when someone kicks in my door at 3AM, I'm not going to disregard it and run to my closet for the shotgun locked in the safe. Tim used to say, "A gun is a gun is a gun". When rounds are coming in at you and you can't get to that custom Wilson 1911 "safe warmer" then I'd say the best gun at the time is that High Point. (Now we all know any self respecting "gun guy" would never buy the piece of shit High Point). We're also not going to turn it down when it's all we've got. Normally I'd say, a High Point isn't a gun, it's a boat anchor, but at this time, it's better than a boomerang. To quote another old mentor... "it's the best damned choice in a pretty shitty situation". Annie Oakley once said... "The best gun is the gun that best fits the shooter". She believed that that a shooter's physique, type of game, and fancy should govern his or her choice of gun. In her view, guns came in many styles and saying that any one make was superior to all others would show a very narrow mind and limited knowledge of firearms. I have my preference, you probably have yours. My preference of manufacturer for my everyday carry gun is a Glock and I have carried one for over 30 years but it's not the only brand I own. I have many different makes and models, sizes and calibers but I always tell my students, "When the Zombie Apocalypse starts, if you can only have one handgun, it should be a Glock 19" Why is that you ask? The Glock 19 (any generation) is the most popular handgun on the market today. It is a mid-sized, compact handgun chambered in the easily found and equally deadly 9mm Parabellum round (aka: 9x19mm or the 9mm Luger). 'Parabellum' in Latin is the second part of a Latin phrase. 'Si vis pacem, para bellum.'
Basically, it translates to: "If you want peace, then [prepare for] war". So parabellum technically means "prepare for war" and many a war it has seen, going back to World War I. The 9mm Luger, is a firearms cartridge that was designed by Georg Luger and introduced in 1902 by the German weapons manufacturer Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken (DWM) (German Weapons and Munitions Factory) for its Luger semi-automatic pistol (as pictured above). It is was an intricately made piece of fine German craftsmanship that is one of the most recognizable pistols ever invented. When American gun designer, John Moses Browning produced the first high capacity handgun in 1935 and chambered it in 9mm, the American gun market scoffed at the caliber. We'd just beaten Germany in the 'War to End all Wars' with several of Browning's inventions to include the M-1911 in .45ACP. The .45 was a well proven man stopper, a large round which would knock an enemy on his ass and typically keep them down. The 9mm was the caliber of the German enemy. The Germans carried it in their historic P-08 Lugers and we'd just beat them in the war, so patriotic American's didn't want a gun in that caliber, except as a war souvenir. The 9mm was famous for it's high velocity which would cause through and through wounds often going through multiple targets, but not often causing fatalities without precise hits to vital areas. Today, with the awesome selection of 9mm Hollow Point rounds on the market, it has become the choice of Law Enforcement and the military around the world. It is also the #1 caliber for pistols for Home Defense and Concealed Carry. The Glock 19 is the #1 selling pistol on today's market in the World. More military forces carry the Glock 19 due to its reliability and ease of maintenance and adaptability. The latest generation is truly ambidextrous for right and left handed shooters and the selection of aftermarket parts is astronomical so you can customize it to your liking and make it your own. So once again, if you can only have one gun when the Zombie Apocalypse starts, make it a shotgun... but if you can only have a pistol, make it a 5th Gen Glock 19.“
