What county do you live in? Santa Clara and Los Angeles counties no way are you getting a concealed carry permit; Orange County and many far northern or gold country counties; no problem. That might influence if you want a pistol or not.
Anyone else in the household that would be using the firearm? While ordinarily not ideal as it uses a less effective pistol cartridge, the Ruger pistol caliber carbine might be a good selection for smaller or generally recoil -averse new shooters.
Lever guns are great but training on them is likely to not be available.
Your budget will factor in here also; I personally would go for exactly the semi-auto shotguns already mentioned, but if your budget is tight there are other alternatives.