Sig Sauer P320 pistol mishaps reported

  • For many years since the P320 was first introduced to the market in 2014, SIG “has recklessly failed to recall (the pistol) despite knowing of many grievous wounds it has inflicted on law enforcement agents and civilians across the country,” contends U.S. Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Jimmy S.C. Jinn.

The chief executive officer of firearms manufacturer Sig Sauer issued a statement on Aug. 8, 2017 – the date on which the company announced a “voluntary upgrade” of its P320 pistol.

“There have been zero reported drop-related P320 incidents in the U.S. Commercial market,” the CEO said.

But in his lawsuit petition against the company, Oklahoman Tyler Herman cites several dozen instances when a P320 unintentionally misfired.

Among them:

  • The San Francisco Police Department reported 29 accidental discharges
    from 2005 to January 2011 “(a time when it issued Sig Sauers as its primary sidearm).”

  • The New York City Police Department reported 10 accidental discharges
    involving Sig Sauer weapons between 2012 and 2015.

  • In 2002, a San Fernando, California, police officer dropped his Sig Sauer, “causing an accidental discharge that killed him, refuting claims the trigger must be pulled to fire the gun.”

  • An officer in Connecticut accidentally discharged his Sig Sauer while holstering it in 2008.

  • A security guard in St. Louis, Missouri, dropped his Sig Sauer in 2011, “unintentionally shooting someone.”

  • A New York City transit officer accidentally fired his Sig Sauer in 2012 while holstering the weapon.

  • A federal air marshal in New Jersey unintentionally shot himself while handling his Sig Sauer service weapon in 2014.

  • A Pennsylvania state trooper and firearms instructor accidentally killed another trooper with his Sig Sauer while conducting safety training in 2015.

  • In 2016, a tactical response training instructor near Sacramento, Calif., dropped his Sig Sauer, which fired a bullet into a student’s truck.

  • A P320 accidentally discharged on Feb. 28, 2017, while in use by the University of Cincinnati Police Department.

  • On June 14, 2017, a P320 accidentally discharged in Wilsonville, Ore.

  • On June 20, 2017, a P320 accidentally discharged while in use by the Howell Township, N.J., Police Department.

  • A P320 accidentally discharged in Tarrant County, Texas, on July 28, 2017, and another accidentally discharged in Tyler, Texas, on Nov. 12, 2017.

  • The Dallas Police Department issued a recall of the P320 on Aug. 16, 2017, “due to drop safety concerns,” and prohibited the use of the weapon until repairs were made.

  • The police chief at Morrow, Ga., issued an emergency order removing the P320 from service on Aug. 9, 2017.

  • Two months later a holstered P320 accidentally discharged in Georgia “when an officer fell to the ground in pursuit of a suspect.”

  • A P320 is believed to have discharged accidentally in Dallas County, Texas, in January 2018.

  • A sheriff’s deputy in Michigan accidentally discharged his Sig Sauer in 2017, striking a schoolteacher in the neck.

  • A P320 accidentally discharged in Virginia on Feb. 7, 2018.

  • A P320 accidentally discharged in Florida on March 29, 2018, when an Orlando police officer dropped the weapon.

  • A pistol in the sion of a Philadelphia, Pa., police officer “fired without manipulation while holstered” on Aug. 26, 2019.

What’s even more damning, Herman claims, is that “upon information and belief,” employees at SIG’s own training academy in New Hampshire “have admitted to accidental discharges causing injury” in 2016 and 2017.

— Mike W. Ray

Tags
Sig Sauer
Firearms Manufacturer
P320 pistol