Just curious. I have a guy that wants to trade me his for a gun that I have but I am not sure that I would like it without the safety. Can it be added in the future?
This has come up before. I don’t believe that the thumb safety can be added afterwards.
I asked the question before here on another thread on the M&P and someone posted that they had called SW and was told that it couldn’t be post added to a gun, even though there is hole in the right place. It can be subtracted though, IIRC. It wasn’t a thread I started, but was a thread on the gun.
I don’t know if that is just marketing or engineering stuff. I’m sure someone here has enough experience and know-how to comment.
I do not know if I am the person referred to, but I have personally called S&W and asked this question. I was told that it can not be done, as different frames are used. I brought this up with one of our Department armors (We have about 1,200 M&P 9mm’s in the field, armors were sent to the factory to be trained). He said it could probably be done, but you’d have to cut a notch in the frame, and it’d look like sh*t…
Now magazine safeties are a different story. They can be added or removed. It’s a couple of parts to add, and a spacer to remove. About $35 worth of parts to do so.
For what it’s worth, I’ve been carrying an issued M&P for almost 4 years w/o a safety, and have since bought a few personal M&P’s w/o the safety. For me, it’s a non-issue. Same as owning a Glock. I just ensure I use a holster to cover the trigger guard vs. just sticking a loaded gun into my pants.
You do not want it.
The position it creates for ones thumb is a poor one IMHO.
C4
Please elaborate.
Sure. If a HG has an external safety on it, you must put your thumb on top of it.
The angle this creates is a poor one IMHO.
C4
Why the hell would want one at all?
So i take it that the general consensus is No Safety with the M&P??? Considering buying one, that’s the reason I ask…forgive my ignorance and lack of searching 
Correct.
As a 1911 guy, I have ZERO issues with external TS’s, but unless you have really long thumbs, the TS on the M&P is at a poor angle and uncomfortable to shoot IMHO.
C4
Thanks.
Thank you kind sir.
As much as it pains me to agree with Grant, I’ll have to second his sentiments about the M&P manual safety. It’s 1911-esque, which is good…but the placement of the safety isn’t exactly like a 1911’s, which is bad.
While it’s a valiant effort on the part of S&W, I personally don’t find it to be nearly as user friendly as the 1911 safety. It interfered with my ability to operate the slide release with my strong hand. If they would move it back more to the rear of the frame it would be better, IMO.
Seconding what was said, the thumb safety was put in the wrong location.
Plus, the pistol was designed without it. Follow the four rules and you’ll be fine.
Sorry, but I must ask, what are these four rules? My Search-Fu is weak, indeed.
Thanks
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Treat every gun as if it were loaded.
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Never point a gun at anything you don’t want to destroy.
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Always keep your finger off the trigger until you’re ready to shoot.
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Always be sure of your target and what lies beyond.
Thanks.
Thanks guys for all of the responses.
To answer some questions:
Why a thumb safety? I carry a 1911 with a thumb safety so I would like a gun with similar controls. Yes, I know that I am the ultimate safety. 
I handled an M&P 9mm with the thumb safety a while back and didn’t seem to have an issue with it but I held a M&P 45 the day after I made my initial post and noticed the same thing that Grant mentioned, your thumb has to be higher than is comfortable.
My hopes would be that there would be some after market support for the M&P in the future to improve the location of the thumb safety.
I carry a 1911 too, but have no issues with the striker fired pistols with no external/manual safety. If you want, you can go through the motions of pushing the thumb safety down, pretending it’s there. That might make you feel better.
That may not be a bad idea. I will probably go ahead and make this trade and play with the M&P to see how I like it.