Well, I live in California, which means it's virtually impossible to get a CCW permit. I've also never owned a handgun until now, as I've decided with the economy, judge mandated prisoner releases, budget cutbacks and layoffs at our local police and sheriff's departments, that the time has finally come when I needed to get a handgun. Interestingly, our county sheriff was on a local radio show last week, and he advocated that citizens buy a gun to protect themselves, saying that, for all the reasons I identified above, that our local police and sheriff departments cannot be depended upon to protect law abiding citizens anymore, and that everyone needs to own a guy and be responsible for their own safety and protection.
With all that in mind, if I were to answer the question in the future, my answer would be .45acp. I just bought a Colt 1991A1, series 80.