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Questions

RogueWarrior

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Ok to start with HI there guys and girls i have two questions one is easy and the other one is rather hard first a little bit about myself I'm and Aussie Living in New Mexico with my American Wife I've been here for 9 months now to the questions

I'm looking at buying a handgun so far I've tried a Glock 9mm and a 40cal and a Springfield in 40 cal so which one would you choose

Now the hard one can i legally buy a handgun

John
 

vmathis12019

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As far as the selection of which handgun you wish to purchase, I can only assume that it's for defensive purposes. If that is the case, you really cannot go wrong with a Glock or a Springfield in any major caliber.

I personally am biased toward the .45 ACP cartridge and therefor suggest that everyone carry that round for self defense. I can only speak from experience, but Springfield XDs are excellent defensive combat handguns. They are well worth the money.

Now for your other question:

http://www.vrolyk.org/guns/alien-laws.html

According to what I could find on this site, as long as you are an immigrant alien, you are okay under federal law. As far as obtaining a concealed weapons permit in New Mexico, it seems that the authorities will only issue you a license if you are a citizen of the United States.

The neat loophole around this would be that in New Mexico, there is no license required to carry a weapon openly (this is of course according to the map on this site). So it would seem that as long as you ahve immigrant alien status or have a green card, you are legal to possess a firearm in the US of A. In New Mexico, you are also allowed to carry it openly, however, you will not be allowed to conceal it until you have obtained American citizenship.

Hope this helps!!!

I am not a lawyer and am in no way responsible for any negative outcomes you may have from following this advice.
 

Legba

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Yeah, you need to be either a citizen or a permanent resident to acquire firearms legally here. There are some limited exceptions for foreign nationals here for hunting or the olympics or whatever, but other non-immigrant visas (e.g. student) are not sufficient. That said, I'm not a lawyer either, but that's what I've been told by the ATF and what I've confirmed with our state and federal gun law books. The usual provisions of the Gun Control Act and the Brady laws also apply (you can't be a "prohibited person" with respect to your criminal record, having been adjudicated incompetent, etc).

As for the choice of handguns from among those listed, I'd prefer the Springfield. I find them more comfortable and they have some better safety features, as I see it, over the Glock.

-ljp
 

openryan

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RogueAussie wrote:
Ok to start with HI there guys and girls i have two questions one is easy and the other one is rather hard first a little bit about myself I'm and Aussie Living in New Mexico with my American Wife I've been here for 9 months now to the questions

I'm looking at buying a handgun so far I've tried a Glock 9mm and a 40cal and a Springfield in 40 cal so which one would you choose

Now the hard one can i legally buy a handgun

John
Glock .40
 

casullshooter

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The USMC and the Army have found the 9mm comes up short in combat. They are asking for 600,000 .45s as they get the job done with one shot most of the time.

.45ACP.45ACP.45ACP..................1911 Still the One!
 

deepdiver

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All three of the weapons you mentioned are good firearms and I have shot all three of them. I don't particularly like the way Glocks feel in my hand and therefore do not prefer them. For disclosure on where I am coming from with my preferences, I 99% of the time carry either an Springfield Arms XD compact .45 or a Sig Sauer P228 (9mm). They conceal differntly and depending on what I am wearing, sometimes the Sig conceals better and more comfortably with the holsters I currently have. When I OC I carry the XD .45. My best friend is a Glock fan boy so I have been through the relative merits discussion numerous times.

Even if I liked the feel of Glocks generally, I personally would not purchase one in .40 as it is a high pressure cartridge and Glock .40s do not have a fully supported chamber whereas the Springfield Arms XD series does. I personally have never heard of a Kaboom! in an XD .40 (although it has probably happened) whereas there are numerous cases of such with Glock .40s on the internet. On the other hand, there are a lot more Glock .40s out there (many LEO depts use them) so the rates of failure may be identical.

My personal opinion (with which Glock devotees would disagree) is that the Springfield XD series is the next evolution of what Glock started. The XDs adds some safety features, has fully supported chambers in all calibers, and the barrel feed ramp is supported by the locking block instead of by the magazine lip. All that being said, excepting the backstrap safety, the Glock 9mm has all the other features to the best of my knowledge.

In the final analysis, it comes down to personal preference. The Glocks and XDs are not dissimilar. Glocks have significant advantage in parts availability for example. I find that most people have a fairly strong preference for the feel of the one vs the other, and that is what really matters. If you have good ammo in either brand, the one that is most comfortable for you to shoot is going to be the most effective weapon for you if you ever need it. As to caliber, I am partial to larger calibers for various ballistic reasons, however, if you are more comfortable and more accurate with the smaller caliber, it is better to put 2 9mm shots on target than an infinite number of .40 or .45 rounds into the wall behind the baddy. My 2 cents.
 

VAopencarry

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You can't go wrong with any of those choices. Do you place any importance on the 'extra' features of the XD? Weigh that tooo but in the end go with whatever feels best in your hand. I am an XD guy myself.

To answer your other question. What's your immigration status? Are you a Permanent Resident alien? A non immigrant alien?
 

RogueWarrior

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I'm a non immigrant alien but I'm going for my permanent residency I've looked on several goverment websites and they are rather confusing and I've been to a few gun shops and and they have given me conflicting information.
 

LoveMyCountry

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Oct 20, 2006
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FightingGlock19 wrote:
all guns should be Glocks, all Glocks should be 9mm, all 9mm's should be 19's

that's the way I've been taught, anyway.

What you said is all well and good, but what if you need to do more than bruise the badguy?

:p


Personally, I haven't found anything that fits the hand and shoots where you point it as well as a 1911.

LoveMyCountry
 

FightingGlock19

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LoveMyCountry wrote:
FightingGlock19 wrote:
all guns should be Glocks, all Glocks should be 9mm, all 9mm's should be 19's

that's the way I've been taught, anyway.

What you said is all well and good, but what if you need to do more than bruise the badguy?
well, I don't want to take my 1911 out of the bottom of the gun safe and vaporize the dude with one shot from my .45:banghead:
 

TrueBrit

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May 10, 2006
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Richmond, Kentucky, USA
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GaGunOwner wrote:
Many states will issue carry licenses to non-citizens who are legal residents. It has been stated in this thread that New Mexico will not issue to non-citizen but open carry would be allowed for you I believe.

Get a non-resident license from another state. I believe that Utah is one of the better non-resident licenses to get and it is well known for issuing to non-citizens. There may be other states that you can choose from.

Sure, great advice here. Maybe check out Florida also?

Till then, OC of a boomerang should be OK, not too sure about CC!;)

Best wishes from the pommie larrikin,

TrueBrit.
 
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