Am I really considering getting another .380?

In the spring(and tax return time) a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love(and guns for his love.


The original thought is by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.  The somewhat questionable improvements by yours truly. I know spring has not yet sprung, but in my opinion, oftentimes the research behind a major purchase(especially a potential new firearm purchase) is the best part of the process.  


Several of the guns in our collection legally belong to my wife.  Truth be told, in terms of 'paper ownership' she probably owns 50% more guns than I do.  Emotionally speaking, there are three or 4 guns which are most definitely hers, though I do get to shoot them sometimes.  The guns that would be considered 'hers' are our Ruger MkII, a Firestorm(Bersa) .380, and the Walther P22 I bought her for Christmas a few years ago.  

The Ruger was the first gun I bought after we got married to teach her to shoot.  The Firestorm was bought a year later to be her carry gun, after I convinced her it was a much more economical choice than a Sig P232.  She decided she wanted the Walther a few years ago, after seeing one and deciding it was a much more 'typical' pistol to work with than the Mk II.  


Because I am a crappy, crappy husband, and I don't get the chance to take her shooting as often as I would like to, she by nature gravitates towards the most must/easiest to shoot of the guns, meaning she much prefers the Walther P22 to the Firestorm .380.  I'm not sure I blame her...the .380 is a little snappy, although compared to my back-pocket gun, a Kel-Tec P-3AT, the Firestorm is a dream.  Mostly, I have stuck to my opinion that any gun is better than no gun, and whether it is 8 rounds of .380 or 11 rounds of .22, she is not going to be John McClane.  I figure 3 or 4 rounds of .22 to the face or neck is just as likely to distract an attacker as the .380 would be.  


What we don't yet have for my wife is something that I would call a 'Side Arm' type gun...something that if the situation called for could be carried in a holster on her hip.  Said weapon would ideally be at least 9mm, and hold 10+ rounds of ammo.  


I know she can handle the recoil of a 9mm.  When she has used my CZ-75b at the range, it is not the recoil that bothers her...it is the hand gyrations she needs to go through to reach all the controls.  My wife does not measure over 5-feet tall, and she has dainty little hands.  


Every time I swing into Ace hardware, I look at the guns they have in stock.  Really, until I swing in and have my wife fondle a couple of guns, it's all theory at this point, but they have a few things that caught my eye.  


First, they have one of the new Ruger SR9's in stock.  Compared to the older P-series Ruger's this gun looks nice and thin.  They even have a compact SR9 in the display cabinet with a Crimson Trace laser mounted to it already.  With a gadget like that thrown in, my wife is already halfway to loving it.  


They also have a Taurus and a couple of Springfield 1911's in the store.  In the past my wife has held 1911's, but she was intimidated by the '.45' on the barrel, and the weight of the gun.  My only thought going the 1911 route would be to buy the gun for me, and then take her shooting enough where she realized that there was nothing to be scared of with this gun.  Yes, I might lose a gun that way, but keeping the wife happy(and protected) would be worth it.


The final thing that I had seen in the store last week, and looked at again today, was the Walther PK380.  I know, it's not a 9mm(well, the bullet is, but...never mind) BUT it's shaped exactly like the P22 that she likes a lot, and that would count a lot towards her being comfortable with the gun.  What I really want to do is find someplace with one of the Walther P99's in 9mm in stock, let her try that out in her hand.  


The best part is that if we chose wrong this time, I get to try again by buying another gun at some point!