Theres a version of the shield EZ that has no manual safety on it.... of course if you're just going by generic MA trash guns I don't know if that SKU is distributor kosher or
not.
A smith 642 has a long ass learning curve, so hopefully she's ready for that business....
-Mike
As one who has carried a J-frame for a very long time, most of them have triggers that require a fair bit of strength to fire and a lot of practice to fire well, and most people aren't going to spend a lot of time on the range with a J-frame. You can't just hand a J-frame to someone with small hands and relatively weak grip strength and think they're going to do well with a revolver.
Both the non-thumb safety and thumb safety versions are on the roster.
I don't understand the complaints about the grip safety. I can think of at least one other hammer-fired semiautomatic that has a grip safety and people seem to be able to get over that.
I bought one to shoot as a training tool, basically a centerfire .22. I've got 500 rounds through it with the only problems being caused by very weak range loads from Magtech that wouldn't cycle the slide four times during the first 100 or so rounds. Since then it's been flawless with HPs and ball ammo. Thumbs-up to S&W for really thinking a gun through for a new group of shooters and potential shooters.