Sure if you have to arm a group you have to cater to the lowest common denominator, I'm not arming a group I'm just interested in arming a few folks. I steered my 87 yo father to a 9mm due to his recoil control, me I'm 50 and still handle recoil easily and am an above average shooter I'll carry a 40 in a service size auto thanks.The problem with Paul Harrell videos is that Paul Harrell is not your average shooter. His follow up shots with a .40 may be just as fast an accurate but that doesn't mean the average person is going to achieve that.
For anyone with even average strength and a well designed gun ( one actually blank paper designed as a 40 not just a 9mm with a barrel swap) recoil control isn't that hard to master and gun life isn't as much of an issue.