Great advice whoever said take yourself and girlfriend to a range that rents pistols and bring someone along that knows guns-- You may find out that you like to shoot--
I just orderd a S&W 642 up here in MN through a police supply store for $365-- They go for about $400 at most shops-- I have owned a few relovers (S&W) and they hold their resale value pretty good, so if you think of buying a gun as an investment it makes the $$$ leaving your hands not so bad--
You would be suprised at how well you can learn to shoot with a CCW class or another class-- I thought I learned some good stuff back in the old days of the USMC as a MP-- Point shooting was just coming up in the shooting circle and has now been taught for years-- When I just went through my CCW class the instructer had us point shooting out to 7 yards (most gun fights will take place within this range) and taught us how to do this with only 100 rounds--
Just telling you all lthis to build up YOUR confidance-- Start out at 3 feet and keep moving out from there is the general idea--
That's my 2 cents adn Good Luck--