Need some advice on a handgun.

My thinking about handguns has changed over the past few decades. There was a time when I would have considered a revolver to be adequate, and it probably still would be for most people, but if I were someone whose travels took me to or through places where people tend to gather in packs, I’d want more capacity than a revolver. I’d even want more capacity than a single stack semi-auto or I’d want to become extremely proficient at reloading. With the Paris attacks, even though I know the likelihood of ending up in a situation like that is very remote, I can’t help but think I’d be wanting as much capacity as I could reasonably carry. And who knows what the future will bring—I honestly don’t understand why we here in the U.S. haven’t had more attacks already.

I don’t carry because I feel like I live in a very safe area. The pistol I own that would work best for concealed carry is my Keltec P-11, but I would not recommend to anyone who is not willing to put in the range time to become good with it. It takes some grip technique and some polishing of the feed ramp for it to function reliably. The trigger pull is really heavy(the long, heavy trigger is what serves as the P-11’s safety) and that takes some getting used to, as well.

People have their personal preferences, and mine is not for Glock or similar pistols. I don’t like the margin of error that comes with a relatively light trigger pull and just a trigger safety. Yes, if you do things correctly it’s not a problem, but as someone who doesn’t train under high stress, adenaline inducing situations, I’d rather not push my luck. The one time I’ve had a possible home defense situation arise that had me thinking I might have to shoot someone convinced me that no matter how good of a shot I am(and I’m pretty good with a variety of firearms) and no matter how skilled at firearms handling I am, I will be rattled in a real life self defense situation and there will be a deterioration in my proficiency.

I have a Springfield XD-45 and really like it. Something like a compact Springfield XDM-9 is probably what I’d suggest your daughter take a look at. It’s a few ounces heavier than some of its competitors, but not enough that it would bother me. I’m left-handed, too. I like grip safeties and/or left-hand friendly manual safeties.

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