please advise
It depends on your threat level. If you’re in hog county and you’re not a visibly straight white guy, you could benefit from both. But if your neighborhood is safe but you travel to another city for work where it’s more hostile, then a handgun might serve you better.
M&P 2.0s have been on sale under $400 and that’s quite a steal for an extremely underrated gun which have been compared favorably to Glocks
However, I highly suggest you don’t spend the entire $1000 on a single gun. You will need ammo and potentially a safe. A good safe and beginner’s stockpile will cost over $500 total. So personally, if I had $1000, it would be pistol, safe, and ammo. (AR ammo tends to be more expensive and you will get less)
Alternatively, you can go for a .22 rifle for training. But if you plan on defense and can’t afford to buy multiple guns, I’d stick to just getting a defensive gun i.e. 9mm pistol
A good safe
Absolutely second this, esp for a pistol
Glocks are good if you want something with cheap magazines (you can occasionally find cheapo 30-rounder sticks for $10 and Glock factory magazines are cheap compared to other OEM pistol magazines) and a lot of aftermarket support. Older .40 caliber models can also be converted to 9mm and they’re pretty plentiful used.
