[MRM]

If she's not comfortable handling a gun, she shouldn't have one at all. If she is comfortable handling one, and is willing to use it, she needs to be trained on whatever she selects it until she is comfortable. A .22 rifle sounds to me like the worst of all worlds in a home defense gun. It's unwieldly and not very effective, but you certainly can shoot a lot of rounds without worrying about recoil.

But if recoil is her main concern, and ease of use is an issue, something compact in an AK or AR platform shooting .223 would be easy to handle, have very minimal recoil, and fire an effective home defense round. They look dangerous and have a bad image in the media, but a woman's sized AK or AR sounds like it would be perfect for her.

A .38 revolver would also probably be a nice option too. If she got some practice in on it the bang and recoil might not bother her anymore.