Sorry about the length of this post folks, but I'm responding to quite a few posts in the one post.
Perhaps if you first saved the money to purchase the pistol you could go into the store and buy whichever "tier" suited you best. I am not a advocate of layaway as I would rather pay and go, and not deal with pay and wait.
My question had nothing to do with how I should pay for it. I don't get people on forums who have to comment on how someone else plans to pay for a purchase. I also sometimes use a credit card (do you approve of that or feel the same as layaway). I'm not going to pay loads of interest though, one of credit cards has 18mo on the introductory rate (0%) and still pays cash back. As for this purchase, I have the money for the purchase now. In fact, I plan on buying 2 guns over the next month or two (the other being a new revolver) and I can afford to buy both now (without saving a month or two) if I go on the budget side for each (but not if I get the S&W/Talo 586 L-Comp or 3" S&W 629, then I'll need to save a month or two). Anyhow, the reason for layaway is because I will have a 30day waiting period (maybe more) since I don't yet have my MD license for purchase that went into effect in 2013, not because I can't afford it otherwise (but I have no problem with people using it because they don't have the money otherwise- the poor have a 2nd Amendment right too, and any way more people can get into shooting and a quality gun the better).
A few dollars more or less on a gun purchase isn't that important in life.
There were a few variations on this so I won't quote each but respond to each here. Yeah, I agree. I will go with the $399 unissued version (basically new other than the stamp, about $40-50 less than the same gun new with regular sites, yet this one has the nightsights). If it is gone when I have my license and buy it outright, I'll go with the $349 tier and not one of the cheaper price groups since that group has plenty of customer comments and the vast majority are very happy.
Same here. I like to buy the police trade-ins and military surplus. Like the man said, they tend to have some worn finish but usually haven't been shot much.
Again, quite a few of these, so I'll respond to all at once... I haven't done it yet, but I have read plenty of stories on the internet about how great a deal police trades can be. That is why I was so excited over these. If the unissued guns are gone when I buy, I will go with the $349 price group, expect some holster wear and that maybe some cleanup will be needed, but otherwise expect a solid gun.
There's always another gun and no sense getting all anxious over what may or may not be available when you are able to buy.
Second, if you're worried about the government having your fingerprints, don't be.
On the first, that is true. While the S&W M&P40c has been on my want list for years, I have a lot of compact/mid-sized .40's and sub-compacts on the larger side of sub-compact on my list (CZ P07, CZ P06, SIG P250SC and/or P320SC, SIG P224, SIG P229, SIG 2022, S&W M&P40, S&W M&P40c). I am sure that if these police trade-ins are gone, I'll find a good deal (and possibly a police trade) on at least one of these and worst case the M&P40c could wait and one of these can come first.
On the second, I'm not really paranoid about the government. Heck, they have had my fingerprints 10 times I can recall: as a kid the local PD printed us on a school field trip, I was fingerprinted at least once when I joined the Army for the security clearance needed for my MOS, when I worked in banks most banks did them as part of the background check (I have 3 or 4 sets there), a volunteer job in college did them, when I worked at the psych hospital they did them, when I substitute taught in and just after college, and both teaching jobs did them. My thing about them is it really rubs me the wrong way to have to be fingerprinted to exercise a constitutional right (imagine the uproar, even from liberals, if we needed to be fingerprinted to exercise our right to vote- liberals go nuts just over laws that require us to show ID to prove we who we are to vote).
Regarding the layaway, check with you're local gun shop.
I started that yesterday. For the next few days, I am checking local shops for both the .40 and the revolver to see if I can find a similar deal locally to what Buds has and if they either have layaway or if they'll let me pay for it but wait to pick it up until my license is processed.
