@Bookworm
1. Why do you want a gun(what's the purpose you'll be using it for)
2. What is your budget
3. What state do you live in
4. What is your age

1. Self defense and amusement.
2. Very little. Eventually, decent.
3. Colorado.
4. 26.

Ok so seeing you live in Colorado there is one weird limitation you have, you can't have magazines that hold more than 15 rounds statewide, or 10 in boulder. The statewide limit isn't really enforced outside of boulder and you can buy "high capacity" magazine build kits which are just a disassembled magazine you can put together in a lot of gun shops from what i've heard.

A .22lr gun is pretty ideal as a first gun to train the fundamentals on due to its low recoil and cost, but you want a self defense gun, and .22lr is not ideal for that. It's pretty small(still lethal) but it's a rimfire round, which means the reliability isn't as good as a centerfire round.
You did talk about long guns vs handguns and for someone learning how to shoot guns a long gun is ideal to start on. They have less recoil, are more accurate, and are easier to control in general due to their size.

A shotgun works for home defense and is cheap, but they're not good for range shooting unless you're using slug rounds, which are expensive(50 cents a round or so). A rifle would probably be more ideal, AR15s are affordable and pistol caliber carbines like the hi point or the ruger PCC are good as well.

A mossberg maverick 88(pump shotgun) can be had for about $200 while an AR15 or Ruger PCC would cost about $400-500, the hi point carbine is $300ish

@Bookworm

Thank you.

Also if you're considering an AR there are 3 good budget choices
1. Cheapest option, Palmetto State Armory
2. Smith and Wesson M&P15
3. Ruger AR556

There's also the Ruger MPR which costs about $600 but also requires you to add an optic which can cost about $100 for a decent one, that's a step up from the budget tier

/r/gundeals is a good subreddit for finding deals and calculating how much guns are worth in general

gun.deals exists too

The cheapest way to buy guns is usually online, how it works is the place ships the gun to a gun shop and the gun shop will do the transfer to you for a small fee(usually$20-40)

I'm seriously leaning towards the M&P15, simply for the edge points.

What do you mean lol

That was the weapon used in the Parkland shooting.

"It's not the model, it's the owner."

I can get buying an AR in fear of another AWB happening but buying a specific model because one guy used it in a shooting is a bit weird

People always freaking out over AR-15s

They're lightweight and easy to use

Above all, ARs are cheap

The AWB made them popular, economy of scale drove prices down

Retard New York doesn't like them very much

Just a bit of humor.

Cuomo is a grade S douche

Blue states in general don't tend to like them much, the AR15 is the gun controller's boogeyman

FUAC

I had fun using this, this one had a pistol grip

Massachusetts bans the AR by name, even if you put grip fins and other stuff on you cant own one unless its a preban

Is that yugo sks yours?

built an AR-15 like carbine, but I made mine a manual bolt action to troll idiots

No, it's my friend's

Lol @Khanclansith

His beard isn't as wild as seen here as it was in April 2017

The AR would suck as a manual action gun wouldnt it, though

The charging handle's in an awkward position and it's a bit hard to pull back

He named it "Gavrilo"

It does, But it is a troll toy.

Lol

Last time i went to the range i shot a friend's albanian sks, i liked it

Much softer to shoot than an ak and skses have an aesthetic to them

I tried using the semi-auto Sten in the photo but it jammed on me

I want to buy a russian sks at some point