Here's my story. Sorry if it's a little long.
I didn't grow up around guns, so to some extent, I bought into some of the liberal anti-guns arguements...please don't get out the flame throwers yet as I don't feel like donning my nomex suit. I was definitely not anti-gun, I just thought they weren't really needed since we have a modern police force to protect us, etc.. I did understand that I was probably screwed in the event of a home invasion, but that was a choice I made thinking that the potential for a firearm related accident in my home outweighed the risk of being a victim. It may have been a poor choice, but it was a conscious choice. I WAS NEVER ANTI-GUN IN THE SENSE THAT I WANTED TO TAKE AWAY ANYONE ELSE'S 2A RIGHTS. I just chose not to exercise mine.
I married relatively late (age 36), and my wife thought we should have a gun in the house for home protection. That still didn't sway me for the longest time...I know

. One night about a year and a half ago, someone came to the door at 9:00 PM. It was only the neighbor, but it scared me to think that it could have been the pretext to a home invasion. Shortly after, I broached the subject of getting a gun with the better half and got a resounding "YES."
Here's where it gets interesting, my dad (died in '83) had a small revolver that my mom still had, and I mentioned that we were going to get a gun when we were over there one time. Mom doesn't really like guns so she gave it to me that day. I bought some ammo for it even though it would only be adequate as a defensive weapon if we were attacked by squirrels (it's a S&W .32 Long). When I loaded it and dropped it in a drawer, my wife's reaction was, "It's loaded!!; what if it just goes off and shoots the dog!?" :shakehead: She did get over that, and I went out gun shopping. I ended up with a Glock 19 after trying out different models and calibers from several manufacturers.
At the encouragement of my boss, I applied for a GFL, and received it last spring. I began carrying on road trips, but the first time I did, my wife was kind of shocked that I had and asked me to tell her whenever I was carrying. So, everytime we got in the car to go anywhere, I'd say, "BTW, I'm packing." Over time, I've started carrying pretty much whereever I won't get arrested or fired (against company policy). A couple of weeks ago, I got in the car with my wife and said, "BTW, I'm packing." She said, "Why do you always tell me that?" :? I said, "Because you asked me to." First, she did not remember asking but then said I don't have to tell here anymore. :screwy:
I also made a $700 mistake at the range a few months ago when I decided to try something different after shooting my G19 and rented a Kimber 1911. It took about one magazine before I said, "I have GOT to get me one of these. So now, in addition to the Glock with 3,500 rounds through it, I've got a Kimber Stainless Custom II that passed 1,000 rounds yesterday.
I am a little frustrated in that part of the deal in getting the gun was that my wife would practice with it regulary (at least every couple of months). To date, she hasn't held up that end of the deal. To be fair, I've also got some projects on my "honey do" list that I haven't gotten around to either.
For shopping, I'd recommend Bullseye in downtown Lawrenceville: they'got a good selection of rentals ($5 per gun), and range time is the about cheapest I've seen in Atlanta. For training, try American Classic Marksman in Norcross. They have an instructor there on Tuesdays and Thursdays for $20 per half hour (trying to get my wife to go).
As for specific guns, there's no one right answer for everyone. I'd definitely suggest you rent both a Glock and a Springfield XD in addition to anything else you may be interested in. The Glock and the XD are amoung the simplest semi-autos to operate, and because the frame is polymer, they're relatively cheap. I'm glad I started with 9mm because the gun was more manageable for me, and practice was a whole lot more affordable.
That's pretty much my story. Maybe some of it's helpful to your situation. Regardless, Good Luck!!