You are carrying gun with chambered cartridge and relying on safety mechanisms to prevent accidental shot? How reliable is that? As I'm most experienced with ussr-made weapons I always keep the chamber empty but with safety in position to fire. All I need in emergency is to pull the slide and I'm ready to fire. The safety levers for some guns are in positions that are hard to reach with one hand while holding the gun. But the slide can be pulled with one hand against your leg or any other surface if you are attacked and your hand grabbed. Believe me, the enemy is trained to grab your hands first.
But when trading on localbitcoins why not arrange a payment amount and address by online means then create a raw transaction by bitcoin-qt or armory, print it out on piece of paper before going to meet in-person. Get your money and exchange for the raw transaction that can be broadcast on network. Meet in public places so you could not be attacked so easily.
The Glock? It's a tank. It's extremely reliable, durable, and safe. It's also extremely easy to maintain. There are some tests on the internet showing off it's reliability (one where a glock is fired after being buried for several years, one where a glock is fired after being thrown from a helicopter, et cetera). Almost every police station in the US uses Glock pistols. You could call it "the AK of pistols". It's also inexpensive, like the AK.
I carry with one in the chamber, the holster protects the trigger. If you don't want the gun to fire, don't touch the trigger. That's all the safety I need. What you described is what we in the states call "Israeli carry", where you need to rack the slide to fire the gun. I think if you life depends on it, you don't want to take the time to rack the slide.
On a similar note, I read a story (dunno if it was true or not) about a guy carrying a 1911 "cocked and locked" who was shot in the hand. Thanks to the damage to his hand the grip safety on the 1911 would not engage and he had difficulty firing back at the attacker. Now, that is probably a 1 in a million situation (being shot in the hand), but it must have sucked. I do love shooting a 1911, it has a wonderful trigger and is extremely accurate, but for self-defense I still choose Glock.
I hear that the Makarov 9mm is a fairly decent, cheap pistol, but I've never fired one.
I agree about the localbitcoins situation. There are so many different ways to prepare to make the exchange extremely easy and safe. Obviously meeting in a busy coffee shop or something is a smart choice. I've sold a few things through Craigslist over the years, and it's always smart to take precautions when dealing with random people initially contacted on the internet. If they want to meet in a dark alley at midnight, you might want to reconsider, no matter how good the deal is!
