landedakioti, and others who me be interested:
If you are experienced in firearm safety and use, you should not have a great deal of trouble in passing whatever tests your state requires for a CCW ticket. However, especially in the case of spouses who are not shooters, there are a lot of benefits to signing the spouse up for a couple of introductory courses such as basic firearm maintenance and safety, home defense, or the NRA Refuse to be a Victim programs. If you are a shooting male with experience and a spouse with very little or no experience, be prepared to eat some crow for dinner, tho. Previously-inexperienced female shooters who genuinely want to learn pistolcraft tend to follow instructions ( from someone other than hubby) very closely and to demonstrate high degrees of hand-eye and small motor muscle skills. For example, I got a lot of guff from the operator / instructor at a local pistol range when my wife--who had never fired a center-fire handgun of any kind--after only a couple of hours of instruction fired a 590 out of 600 on the 60-round ppc course, including all 10s at the 25-yard line, with a 4-inch S&W Model 15. It would be reasonable for the reader to infer that it had taken me quite a few more than 60 rounds, and more than a couple of hours of practice, to get up to a 590. Let's face it--those of us of the testicular gender tend to believe that all guys are born with superb ability to shoot pistols, drive trucks, and make love. Give your significant other a couple of stiff drinks and ask her for her opinion on that belief...
More seriously, tho, I recommend that everybody who's interested take some of the courses--even if a person winds up not carrying, or not having a firearm around the house, the education on some of the realities involved should be very interesting.
For anyone who is interested in carrying, I strongly suggest taking whatever courses will prepare you to obtain a CCW ticket which will be reciprocal in all or most of those states in which you are likely to be traveling by land vehicles. Most resident state CCW permits are reciprocal, but check to make sure. If you are a resident of the Peoples' Democratic Republic of Illinois, however, you will probably need to get a Florida or Nevada ticket--good most everywhere except Illinois.