[Wyosmith]

Hand guns are for constant carry. If she's not going to carry then a shotgun or rifle is a FAR better choice.

A lowly Ruger 10/22 is a WAY better home defense gun then the best "wonder nine", 40 or 45 ever made, in the hands of about 99% of the shooters out there, and 100% of the time in the hands of a new shooter.
A good semi-auto 20 gauge shotgun loaded with Lead BBs or #4 buck is an excellent option too.

At the last class I taught (last Friday) we did a test of students ranging from 'highly advance in skill' to one that had fired a gun only 1 time in her life before the class.
After basic instruction we have every student shoot with a 22 Ruger Mk2, a S&W 38 M10, and a S&W M&P 9MM with Red dot sight.

The course was to fire at a target moving slowly from side to side about 6 feet, and the drills were done from 2 yards, 5 yards, 15 yards and 30 yards. The object was to record times and hits, and not to compete against anyone else.

Next we gave all the same students an AK74, A Ruger 10/22, a Mossberg 500 with bird shot, and an M-1 Grand.

ALL students, (that's 100%) did better with ALL long arms then they did with ANY handgun. At every distance. All were faster and most made more hits. All made more hits at 15 and 30 yards.

The good shooters made just as many hits with handguns from 2 and from 5 yards as he did with the long arms, but were a bit slower then they were with rifles.

ALL students did better with every long arm at 15 and 30 yards.

You compete against your own scores to show the difference in speed and accuracy of handguns against rifles and shot guns.

But I did point out that one of our beginners (2 months of experience) did better with the AK74 at every distance then out best handgunner (35 years of experience) did at those same distances.

Ever wonder why ALL armies on earth issue rifles instead of handguns?

I encourage all students to buy handguns and learn to use them because having a gun NOW is often better then getting a gun in 20 seconds.

But for Home Defense, where you have to go get your gun from a room or desk, or a lock box, ALWAYS grab a long gun.

They are MUCH MUCH MUCH better to fight with.

Seems even Dem/Comms have learned this which is why they need to get our rifles away from us. they know a fight may be looming and they don't want us to have military rifles. There is a VERY GOOD reason for that.