Talisman or tool? Guns are both things at once.
If as Kleck indicates the majority of those hundreds of thousands of yearly DGUs is simply displaying the gun then that counts as a talismanic use.
If your thesis correct then wouldn't it follow that most of our training should be focused on how best to display a handgun in a forceful manner?
Most training does focus on scenarios that end with, "and then you pull the trigger". Perhaps a good part of our training should involve ways in which pulling the trigger is avoided. Conflict avoidance and nonviolent resolution, situational awareness might be more valuable than multiple attacker scenarios.