Originally Posted by SMMAssociates

wsr:

Not quite....

The M&P (and Shield) series have trigger safeties that are a PITA, but that limits the possibility of discharging the weapon by dropping it, or otherwise by something manipulating the trigger.

The trigger needs to be held back to actuate the striker block safety.

The striker block itself helps to prevent a discharge by way of dropping. It's not going to move to far by itself....

I'm a 1911 guy, and Condition One is the way I'm used to going, but in the absence of a thumb safety, a draw that fails to wipe off a non-existent safety ought to generate a whole lot less panic than failing to turn off a real one. So, I practice that way.... (I have a thumb safety on a 9C that I since gave to my daughter. She prefers that.)

My Shield has a thumb safety. It's not likely to get actuated by itself, and fairly easy to clear intentionally. Otherwise, the lock structure is quite similar to the older M&P. Mine has an Apex trigger mod (similar to the older models DCAEK kit) which helped a bit, although the trigger's pretty good out of the box.

Regards,