I've had several M&P's and the Shield is by far my favorite for many reasons. That being said I must agree with the idea that you should not miss out on owning a great gun over what is in the end a very minor component of the gun. Sure it has a purpose yet at the same time it can be argued that a striker fired gun really doesnt need one anyway (finger off trigger saftey on, finger on trigger saftey off). The saftey itself is very small and somewhat stiff. Once it is in the off positon it is not going to easily move back to the safe postion.