"handguns and pistols are different". Sure they are.

Perhaps you'd like to consult a dictionary before such a brilliant statement.

Mine says a pistol is a type of handgun.

Dictionaries can be surprisingly helpful if one actually wants to make sense.   But of course, perhaps that's not the goal of the poster. On Mudcat it seems that often the case.

An amazing number of people are far more interested in heat than light.