Originally Posted by SPRINGFIELD

I would first advise that you get some training, either from a knowledgeable freind, or a gun club with a private range. They usually offer free safety courses and basic marksmanship training. That being said, most females tend to do best with a light weight revolver, double action, chambered in something with low recoil. Usually .38 special. Taurus also makes some great little revolvers chambered in 9mm. Why a revolver? Well, they don't jam. With most semi-auto's you have 13-17 rounds. Revolvers have 6. But you have "six for sure" as opposed to 3, then a possible jam which for someone new to the gun world could prove catastrophic. Also, revolvers don't have a number of steps to go through before getting off the first shot. No hammer to cock, no slide to rack, no safety to disengage, just pull the trigger and it goes bang. And realistically, if you have a problem that 6 rounds of .38 Special hollowpoint won't solve-you're screwed anyway. They can be stored loaded indefinitely because unlike an auto, a loaded revolver has all of it's internal springs at rest. An auto has a a compressed magazine spring with 15 rounds on top of it, and you have to rotate out magazines every couple of months or so. A .38 has low recoil, low muzzle blast, and very low muzzle flash. All of these things help you stay focused on stopping the attack, as opposed to worrying about what your weapon is doing to your eyes and ears.