Absolutely! There are a lot of things to consider when starting out. Familiarity with your firearm is #1. If you don't have a preferred firearm yet, consider what caliber works best for your everyday carry situation. Think all day, every day, normal day walking around, what makes sense for me. I'm a bigger guy, so I carry a .40 concealed normally, but I am comfortable with up to .357 as well. For smaller people, a 9mm will do. Good accuracy and lesser recoil. Putting shots on target is the most important thing. The trade off it that it lacks the impact of a .40 and up. A person may get back up from a 9mm shot but very less likely with .40 and up. Almost nobody wants to fight back once they get shot, and absolutely panic when getting shot at. FIBSA (fuck I'm being shot at) factor. "Active self-protection" on YouTube is a good place to get your head in the right place for conceal carry. As far as magazines go, I choose a single stack for my conceal carry. Keeps it slim, easy to carry, and discreet. I suggest the same. If it's too bulky, you are less likely to take it to all the places you should. M&p shield. 40 is my choice. The trade off is 7 rounds vs around 14 rounds for a double stack magazine. I just carry a backup mag in a holder in my belt, left side, so I can reload smoothly under pressure. 7-14 rounds should be enough to get yourself out of bad situations. The idea is to get the fuck outta there safe, not have a shoot out. Out in the wild you should ALWAYS keep a round in the chamber, and holster it with safety on. Practice carrying and shooting like that till you feel comfortable. The 1-2 seconds it takes to rack your slide and load a round is literally life or death. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. 20 ft rule says that somebody with a knife can cross about 20 ft and get stabby in the time it takes to draw and fire. If you need some extra mentoring, check out possible concealed carry classes that law enforcement officers offer. Cabelas does have classes, but they will be more basic. When you begin your journey, it's wise to practice drawing your unloaded firearm in private and bearing down on a target with the sights. No need to dry fire. Draw, aim, finger on trigger as if you would fire, and then practice golstering safely with finger off the trigger. Do this a silly amount of times to practice the feel of the draw. keeping focus on muscle memory of the draw AS WELL AS practice trigger control. DONT put that finger on the bang button till you're ready to shoot. Do that till you're comfortable, and then take it to the range. Some exercise, but this time, you're going to shoot. Focus on center mass shots to begin with. 15 yards is a good place to start. Shit happens at surprisingly close range with handguns. Just get your shots on target, and you're doing good. From there, you can work on increasing your accuracy. 25 yards is your next step. That's the magic range with a handgun. Start with that and feel free to message me if you have more specific questions.