She should buy a firearm just like she shops for shoes. If it doesn't "feel right" in her hands, she'll never shoot it enough to become proficient with it.
It took 25 years, but I finally got my wife to the range. She shot my Ruger MKI and she shot it very well. I have not pushed her to shoot any of my guns. She mentioned that she would like to shoot my daughters Bersa .380. The next time we all go to the range I am going to have her shoot the MKI again before she shoots the Bersa. From there I will slowly move up in power and recoil, but I want to make sure I don't go too far.
Once I know what she can handle, I will take her to gun stores and have her look at different guns until she decides what she wants.
I'm taking this slow so I don't push her back out. I'm hoping that she will decide she wants something that can be used for self defense and eventually get her CHL.
What I am afraid of is that she will not like it simply because she didn't pick it out. Any recommendations or criticisms of the P22?
I was thinking of telling her that James Bond uses the same gun. She thinks the new Bond is the hottest guy on the planet, next to me of course.