[Sevens]

I can barely address the problem of your living in occupied territory. I feel bad for you and I'm disgusted with the politics of many parts of this great land, but that's a problem well out of my comfort zone. I can only suggest that at your current age, now may be the time to take a look at the things in your life. You may have a wonderful opportunity to see what your attachments are and address your residency problems right now. I can tell you with absolute experience that job/career, family and obligations that you may have later in life can/will make a cross-country move outrageously more difficult.

If I were 20 years old and living in New York, I'd make every attempt to re-direct my life elsewhere. At 40 years old with a job and children and such, doing something like that is much more difficult. You'll often see folks (in gun forums) say "Man, you gotta move!" like it's an easy option for anyone on a free weekend. It is not. So if you can, do it now.

If you've never handled revolvers before... we wouldn't expect you to know a lot about them. However -- you are now in the midst of a LOT of folks who have a LOT of experience with them.

To discount a Ruger GP-100 without experience would be pure ignorance, IMO. Also, you seem to write off the (literally) millions of pre-lock Smith & Wesson revolvers in existence. And though I'm not a Colt revolver guy, there are also options for Colt revolvers that might make you very happy without the extreme expense of the quite collectible Python.

In the opinion of this revolver lover...You have a lot more options than the doom & gloom in your post might suggest when it comes to picking a revolver... even on a budget, and living in New York State.