Hitting the gym to become a swoletariat, looking to arm myself as well.
I've gone shooting before, and my Dad just bought a couple guns himself because of all the pogroms he's been seeing against Muslims in ingerland.
I'm based in the United States of Amerikkka, mods please let me know if this isn't allowed!
I think DA/SA with a decocker is a good middle ground. You don’t need to worry about turning off the safety like a striker fire, but the trigger will be heavy and you can thumb the hammer which makes it impossible for the gun to go off.
But M&P 2.0 is very good as well. The models with thumb safeties are usually cheaper as well since they’re not as popular as just the trigger safety.
I'm not personally a fan of decockers because I like my trigger pulls consistent, but I think you're probably right about them being a fairly good alternative if the complete lack of a safety isn't your preference. A lot of my personal preference is just starting out with a da/sa cz-75 with a thumb safety (always cocked & locked, never safety off with the hammer lowered) as my first pistol and being used to the manual of arms to the point of preferring it. I wish CZ's more carry oriented stuff were still easy to find with thumb safeties.