I hope each of you who posted will find a successful and satisfactory solution with the Shield EZ Each situation is different, but it's hard for me to think of a more likely solution for anyone who struggles with operating and firing a semi auto firearm (or a revolver, for that matter). I sure can't think of anything that will work if the Shield EZ does not, and I've handled and shot a great number of handguns over the past nearly 60 years. My guess is that if someone cannot manipulate and fire this Shield EZ in .380 caliber, there are not any likely solutions available for them. I'm basing this on my wife's experience and comments after her first session at the range with the gun.

Ours does not have the external manual thumb safety and that's just fine with us. I know some prefer this but we don't. It appears that some have had problems with the safety moving during firing with the thumb safety equipped Shield EZ. It also appears that a quick call and return to S&W concerning this problem has resulted in a satisfactory solution to that problem which has been to give the existing safety mechanism a stronger detent that reduces the possibility of this happening. The grip safety is a definite positive additional safety. Unless a good high and firm grip is maintained to keep that grip safety fully and positively engaged, the gun will not fire! It appears to me that the size of the thumb safety lever on both sides of the gun is fairly large, which would make it pretty easy to move it, intentionally or not. How a person holds the gun and what happens during recoil can definitely result in unintentionally moving that lever. Some seem positive that this has happened without any contact with the safety lever, but some of those have also reported that problem stopped after they had returned their EZ to S&W for the "fix". You can read about those stories here in this forum.

__________________
So long ... Ken