Best Concealed Carry Weapons for Women and New Shooters in 2022

There are many reasons for women to carry a concealed weapon in the new year. According to preliminary data from Havard’s School of Public Health, it suggests that women accounted for about half of all gun purchases between 2019 and 2021 and those new gun owners are likely to be female. More than ever, gun violence is an important issue when it comes to women’s safety. 

Because women and men have different builds physically, the type of firearm they should carry should also be different. Overall, the gun should be a good fit and be easy to handle, aim and shoot well. With so many choices on the market, you are sure to find a concealed carry gun for your needs. You also don’t necessarily have to spend hundreds of dollars to find a good concealed carry gun. Many of these choices are excellent guns for women, and most are under $700! 

Here are 4 important things for women to consider when purchasing a concealed firearm:

 

• A weapon that fits comfortably in your hands
• A handgun that has unparalleled stopping and shooting power
• A weapon with manageable recoil, safety features, and reliability
• A weapon that has the “wow” factor aesthetically (secondary to safety of course!)

 

Pew Pew Guru owner, son, husband, and father of 4 girls (yes, 4!) Kevin Flowers is a veteran and 15 year + CCL concealed permit holder in five states. Below he gives his top 10 best recommended concealed carry weapons for women along with his unique impressions of each. If you’re looking for a thoughtful and practical Christmas gift, keep reading!

 

Top 10 Recommended Best Concealed Carry Weapons for Women (and New Shooters)

 

Smith & Wesson S&W SHIELD 2.0 380ACP 8RD BLK TS EZ

 

Built for personal protection and everyday carry, the M&P380 Shield EZ is chambered in 380 Auto and is designed to be easy to use: featuring an easy-to-rack slide, easy-to-load magazine, and easy-to-clean design. This pistol is compact and lightweight and perfect for women, first-time shooters, and experienced handgunners alike.

Kevin’s Impression: This is the gun my wife, adult daughters and mother carries. 

I use this gun in my training courses, because of its ease of use. I highly recommend this gun for anyone with strength and dexterity issues. It’s dubbed the granny gun, but it’s a great firearm. Smith and Wesson made the slide easy to rack, this gun has great balance and is easy to shoot and maintain. 

I sell more of these than any of the guns in my offering, and won’t sell something I don’t believe in or stand behind. Placing this in the hands of the people I love the most in the world is a ringing endorsement.

Click here to learn about the Smith & Wesson S&W SHIELD 2.0 380ACP 8RD BLK TS EZ

 

Springfield Armory SPRGFLD HELLCAT 9MM 3″ BLK 10RD

 

The Springfield Armory Hellcat raises the bar on concealed carry pistols with service pistol comfort, capacity, and accuracy in a remarkably compact chassis. This small and well-balanced pistol has a 3-inch barrel and weighs just 18.3 ounces, making it easy to carry, conceal and maneuver without losing precision or capacity. 

 

Kevin’s Impression: This is the best engineered concealed carry firearm on the planet! It is ergonomically perfect! Most micro 9mm’s kick like a mule from the recoil. The rule of thumb is the smaller the gun, the more felt recoil. You can tell this wasn’t a retrofitted big gun down to a small gun. They have spared no detail in this design. This feels like a ground-up design!

Quite honestly if it weren’t for Billy and his Canik TP9 Elite loaner, I would be carrying this gun. I absolutely love everything about this gun! As an FFL who sells firearms, and can get wholesale pricing on every gun, and can literally carry any gun he choices, I think this says a lot! 

 

Click here to learn about the Springfield Armory SPRGFLD HELLCAT 9MM 3″ BLK 10RD

 

Glock G19 Gen 5

 

The Glock G19 Gen 5 pistol is ideal for those looking for a versatile option due to its reduced dimensions. The new frame design without finger grooves allows anyone to instantly customize their grip to accommodate any hand size, making it perfect for women who usually have smaller hands than men. The general feel of the Glock 19 Gen 5 will allow you to get that leverage over the firearm, making your shooting with it very effective.

 

Kevin’s Impression: This is Glock – that should be all I should have to say. I know there are people who hate the Glock for a multitude of reasons but none of the detractors can say the Glock branded firearms aren’t the most reliable guns on the planet. They test these guns in the most rigorous conditions, they bury them in mud, in water, and in ice. You can actually clean this thing with water if you don’t have a solvent or cleaner.

I liken the Glock brand to a Suburu. Not necessarily the most stylish but those cars last 300,000-500,000 miles easily! 

The Glock 19 is the same – it’s not a pretty firearm, but you know it’s going to perform. I tested the Glock 19 when it first came out and instantly became a fan. It cycles through whatever ammo you put in it! And isn’t that what you want in a carry gun?!

 

Click here to learn about the Glock G19 Gen 5

 

Sig Sauer SIG P365 9MM 3.7″ X-RAY 3 DAY/ NIGHT SIGHT 12-SH BLACK POLYMR

 

Featuring a 3.1-inch barrel, the P365 redefines what a concealed-carry pistol should be. This pistol is one of the most popular CCW pistols on the market due to its large capacity, reliability, tiny size, great trigger and upgrade potential. It’s the one gun that you can carry every day of the year. It’s fun to shoot, and it comes in several varieties.

 

Kevin’s Impression: There are two brands in the top tier that are alone at the top, Glock and Sig Sauer. And then the next tier is Springfield Armory, Smith and Wesson, and then kind of everybody else, then the bottom tier budget guns. 

I was at a class in a rock quarry, to become NRA certified in Personal Protection Outside the Home, we had to shoot in the sand, it was raining and just miserable conditions. The gun I took for the class kept jamming. So the instructor passed me his Glock. It shot the cheap white box ammo. Another student had another brand, his gun faired better than mine but he experienced some failure to fire issues too. So our instructor asked the other student to pass me the rounds that wouldn’t fire and he wanted to load those misfired shells and try to fire them. I was hesitant! 

I was using his Glock. Nothing happened. This next step blew my mind. He asked for those shells that wouldn’t fire in the original gun, and also wouldn’t fire in the Glock. He loaded them in the magazine of his Sig. Every one of those shells fired! Even after the primer had been struck! 

This was the moment when I became a Sig fan-boy! 

 

Click here to learn about the Sig Sauer SIG P365 9MM 3.7″ X-RAY 3 DAY/ NIGHT SIGHT 12-SH BLACK POLYMR  

 

Smith & Wesson S&W SHIELD M2.0 M&P 9MM EZ BLACKENED SS/BLK THUMB SAFETY

 

The power and features of the full-sized M&P pistols put into a slim, lightweight pistol the size of your hand. This pistol is a nice size and configuration that is rather easy to carry concealed, as well as easy to grip and control while firing. This weapon is well suited to people who may have trouble manipulating the slide of other pistols. It is also one of the few pistols that have a grip safety; a feature that some find very appealing and comforting.

 

Kevin’s Impression: Same ease of slide racking, same gun as the 380 EZ but chambered in 9mm. This is a classic case of listening to your customers. A lot of people wouldn’t consider this gun in its original iteration because it was chambered in 380. I don’t know why, because the 380 has sufficient knockdown factor to stop a threat. But there are a faction of people who just wouldn’t consider it. 

Well, Smith and Wesson listened and made the EZ in 9mm. I love this gun and would consider this a home run. It’s the best of both worlds, it satisfies those people who wouldn’t consider a 380 and gives that person with dexterity issues a reliable, easy-to-operate gun. 

 

Click here to learn about the Smith & Wesson S&W SHIELD M2.0 M&P 9MM EZ BLACKENED SS/BLK THUMB SAFTY

 

Smith & Wesson S&W M&P9 SHIELD PLUS 9MM 13/10 RD MAGS NO THUMB SAFETY 3.1″ BL

 

For nearly a decade, this pistol has been one of the best, most popular, micro-compact concealed carry pistols on the market. This extremely thin and lightweight pistol includes 13 round and 10 round magazines. The ergonomic design offers a comfortable, nicely fitting grip shape and perfect grip texture. The shape and texture make it one of the most controllable, best shooting, carry pistols available. 

 

Kevin’s Impression: I really like Smith and Wesson brand and this Plus model is well built, has great capacity, and has a good hand. You can’t go wrong with an S&W! I really like this model! I prefer no thumb safety but there are people who feel more comfortable with that option. Both models are great guns steeped in the Smith and Wesson tradition so I guess it’s just a personal choice. 

 

Click here to learn about the Smith & Wesson S&W M&P9 SHIELD PLUS 9MM 13/10 RD MAGS NO THUMB SAFETY 3.1″ BL

 

Canik TP9 Elite SC 3.5″

 

Winner of the Ballistic Best Award for the Best Compact Semi-Auto, you can convert this pistol to a compact with just the insertion of the 15 round magazine that includes a finger rest and matching grip texture giving the shooter a “two guns in one” situation. For a nice price of under $500, this pistol offers superior concealment and function.  

 

Kevin’s Impression: I first tried this gun when I was in Virginia being certified to be an NRA Training Counselor, which means I can train firearm instructors. Well to make a long story short, I was in danger of not qualifying. You had to be able to shoot at 45 feet and all of the shots had to be within 6″ of each other.  I took a .40 caliber handgun combined that with a red dot optic that I had only shot once with. I was literally the worst shot there. After the chief instructor told me he was concerned I wouldn’t be able to make the cut. A fellow student suggested I use his gun. Billy was easily the best shot in the class so I said why not. Fresh out of confidence and full of self-doubt, I accepted Billy’s offer.

Billy passed me his TP9 Elite and I immediately loved how it felt in my hand. The trigger was crisp and responsive. This gun was so accurate.

I went from the worse shooter in the class to the 3rd best! Shooting my .40 Cal the first three days, the requirement was to get at least 16 out of 20. I averaged a 14 out of 20 with my gun. However, I qualified with a 19 out of 20 using Billy’s Canik TP9 Elite. 

I got home from the grueling week of shooting and bought myself a Canik TP9 Elite. This is now my daily carry gun! 

 

Click here to learn about the Canik TP9 Elite SC 3.5″

 

Taurus TAU M856 38SP DA REV 6RD 2S

 

If you like a small, concealable, self-defense arm that’s easy on recoil as well as affordable, but are looking for something other than a pistol, then this weapon is for you. This revolver is a six-shot, 2-inch barreled .38 Special that is just over 6.5 inches long and 1.41 inches wide, which is shorter than a lot of pistols that are considered concealable compacts.

 

Kevin’s Impression: I love revolvers! I tell my students in every class that revolvers are perfectly good options for concealed carry! They don’t have the mechanical issues that semi-automatics have. They are the guns for dummies- idiot-proofed, if you will,  you know that franchise, Computers for Dummies, or Excell for Dummies.. if there were such a thing for guns- this would be the poster child. It has modern styling, it’s slim has a textured positive grip, it’s double action, and a great concealed carry gun. My wife likes this on her nightstand! It’s like old faithful! You pull the trigger and it’s going to fire. None of that slap, rack,  and roll. With the Taurus M856, just pull the trigger again.

 

Click here to learn about the Taurus TAU M856 38SP DA REV 6RD 2S

 

Sar Arms Sar USA B69CPK B6C Compact 9mm Luger 3.80″

 

The SAR B6C offers exceptional performance and accuracy with a lightweight and small pistol design. It comes chambered in 9mm with a 3.8 in the barrel. It’s a stylish edition and adds a punch of color for that carrier who doesn’t want just a basic black gun. This pink gun has all the features of its black cousins, but in a world of conformity, sets itself apart.

Kevin’s Impression: These are very good budget guns for the money. There isn’t a class that goes by that a student doesn’t ask for a gun in other than black! I had a student recently who said “my gun needs to reflect my personality! I need some flair!”

Well here is that flair. In 2020 finding guns with color was a feat unto its self. Manufacturers switched all production to the basic black guns in 9mm to satisfy the increased demand. Now we are just now starting to see these colored options.

Click here to learn about the Sar Arms Sar USA B69CPK B6C Compact 9mm Luger 3.80″

SCCY CPX With Crimson Trace CTS-1500 Reflex sight

 

SCCY’s CPX-1 is designed for concealed carry but large enough to get a good firm grip. It is considered to be one of the best priced, precision made “Pocket Pistols” on the market. Chambered for 9mm, it has a 3.1″ barrel with a 16:1″ right-hand twist. Each pistol retains a backup iron sight system. However, shooters can focus on the target by utilizing the parallax-free red dot from Crimson Trace. The CPX Red Dot Series pistols are small and concealable while remaining affordable.

 

Kevin’s Impression: This is another budget option with flair, and it comes with  a Crimson Trace Red Dot Sight included. This is a pretty good gun for the money.

 

Click here to learn about the SCCY CPX With Crimson Trace CTS-1500 Reflex sight

 

Conclusion

Getting an affordable pistol is easier than ever today. If you keep in mind a few attributes when shopping for the woman or new shooter in your life, you can easily find the gun for you. Besides, spending a little less on your weapon allows you to spend more on training, ammunition, apparel. 

Who on your Christmas list could use the gift of self-defense and peace of mind? We also have other essential self-defense items that make great stocking stuffers! If you’re not quite sure what to buy, gift cards always make a great gift. 

 

Compensated Affiliate Disclaimer:

This post contains affiliate links, which means if you buy the product I may receive some monetary compensation. I only recommend products I use and love!