Definitely simple to use, but with no safety (heck, not even a trigger safety for snagging), it's wise to carry on an empty chamber. That's going to leave you what, ~4 rounds in a typical double action snub nosed revolver in a common cartridge like 9mm Luger?

You don't really need a safety when you have a heavy trigger pull that is typical for double action revolvers. Any revolver made after the 1950s will have some kind of transfer bar so that the firing pin is not resting directly on the cartridge primer.

Revolvers chambered in rimless cartridges are rare since rims are required for the cartridge to sit properly in the cylinder bores.

I'm not super confident that's going to incapacitate an assailant fast enough at the range I'd want to use a snub-nosed anything at.

.38 special wadcutters are highly effective at lower velocities. They have excellent stopping power with minimal recoil. Jim Cirillo relied on these during his days with the NYPD stake out squad back in the 1980s.

Put another way, you're spot on about it being a good weapon for the "tee hee what's a gun crowd" but it's a good way for Blondie to end up in the hospital because an assailant took four rounds of dubious accuracy, clobbered her, and then bled out.

3-4 rounds of .38 special wadcutter will get the job done. Blondie needs to train properly, because you don't need that many rounds to stop a would-be assailant in typical self defense scenarios. >90% of CCW incidents are resolved in 3 shots or less as per FBI crime statistics.

no safety

Your finger is the saftey.