If you have little to no practical experience with handguns, including "that time about twenty years ago on my uncles farm," I recommend that the first pistol someone purchases be a 22 LR. Ruger, S&W, Browning, Beretta, and a slew of other companies make 22 auto-pistols and many of them make 22 revolvers.
22 pistols tend to be fairly inexpensive, running $200 to $350 dollars. This price depends on bells and whistles, special colors, and name brand. Basically, all the big name manufactures make a blowback 22 pistol that is going to be about 100 % reliable with most 22 Lr ammo types. Since a box of 525 rounds of 22 Lr currently runs about $13, you can get a lot of practice in for minimal cost. This is about the same cost for a name brand box of 50 9 mm or 40 S&W rounds.
My best friend and I bought our 22 pistols a few months apart from each other, years ago. We must have spent hours and hours just shooting and reloading those pistols. From those hours and hours of practice we learned trigger control, sight picture, and the best stance for us to use. I think many people would be surprised at the accuracy we can achieve with those pistol. I can tell you that we can hit a 100 yard plate 8 to 9 times out of ten. Not too shabby for a pistol. Actually, far better then any other pistol I have, but then again, my 22 came with a much better trigger then even my 1911.
The old saying goes, "Practice makes perfect." You might as well practice cheaply.
