.38 SPL revolver is ideal. My daughter uses one. As for .22s . . . A very simple to use and reliable mouse gun is the Beretta 950 Jetfire. It has a "tip up" barrel, so one never has to rack the slide (except for stove pipe, which has never happened to me, hence the revolver is the go to handgun for an inexperienced shooter.) The Beretta Tomcat is the same type of tip up barreled semi-auto but steps up toa .32ACP.

"All that the South has ever desired was that the Union, as established by our forefathers, should be preserved, and that the government, as originally organized, should be administered in purity and truth." – Robert E. Lee