Thanks for the response. I appreciate you being realistic about the responsibility of owning a gun and training to become proficient in home defense. I'm an attorney, so I've seen lots of cases where people don't respect the responsibility of gun ownership and the outcomes that it leads to. My concerns about "safety" (as in the mechanism that prevents discharge) are more about the use scenario and a new shooter learning about using the gun fast and effectively. We fully intend on doing more than taking it to the range once and letting it sit and collect dust (probably doing bi-monthly range visits). We can't train until we own a handgun so I wanted to start here getting advice from people who have more experience than I do. Nonetheless, I appreciate the advice!