Thats cool man. The first thing youll do is get your safety certificate, you can either do that first, or at the gun store when youre ready to buy something. Then figure out what you want, a semi auto, a revolver, something antique, whatever. Then start going to shops and hold everything you can, the most important thing will be what feels good in your hand. Then go to some ranges where you can rent some stuff, either the gun you have in mind or Something similar. When you made up your mind find a shop that has it. Youll pay for the gun, the fees, and (i think) the background check, youll need your id and something that has your name ans address on it, they usually like car registration. Theyll take all your money, and you can come back in 10 days and pick it up...there are other nuances like if you buy a gun online, etc, but thats basically how it goes down. A real great website is calguns.net they know their shit and everyone wants to help.