Safety Concerns and Uncommanded Discharges of the Sig Sauer P320
Introduction: The Sig Sauer P320 is a popular striker-fired 9mm pistol adopted by the U.S. military and many police departments since its 2014 release. However, a growing body of evidence has linked this handgun to unintended, uncommanded discharges – instances where the weapon fires without the trigger being pulled. Such incidents have resulted in numerous injuries and at least one death, sparking lawsuits and prompting some law enforcement agencies to pull the P320 from service (stateline.orgstateline.org). This report compiles documented incidents of P320 misfires, legal actions taken, law enforcement agency responses (including bans and policy changes), and technical evaluations of the pistol both before and after Sig Sauer’s 2017 “voluntary upgrade” program. The goal is to provide an authoritative, evidence-based overview of the safety concerns surrounding the Sig Sauer P320 for informed policy decisions.
Documented Incidents of Uncommanded Discharges
Numerous incidents have been reported in which a holstered or otherwise secured Sig P320 discharged on its own. Investigations often found no user error, with some events captured on video. Below is a chronology of notable incidents (with outcomes and suspected causes where known):
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2016 – Roscommon Co., MI (Deputy’s Vehicle): A sheriff’s deputy’s P320 fired as he stepped out of his patrol car. An investigation concluded the trigger may have been inadvertently depressed by the officer’s seat-belt buckle (thetrace.org). No injury was reported in this case, but it highlighted how the P320’s trigger could be activated by external objects.

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Oct 2017 – Riverdale, GA (On-Duty Officers): A Riverdale Police officer’s holstered P320 discharged while he was investigating a disturbance. The department required him to take a polygraph to prove he hadn’t touched the trigger – he passed (thetrace.org). Riverdale PD sent all its P320s back to Sig Sauer for the voluntary upgrade after this incident. Despite the upgrades, two more Riverdale officers experienced unintended discharges: one in 2018 (shot in the leg by his P320) and another during a training session, when his holstered pistol fired as he reholstered it (thetrace.org). These successive incidents strongly suggested a pattern beyond user error.

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April 30, 2019 – Wesley Chapel, FL (Middle School): Pasco County Sheriff’s Office School Resource Officer Jonathan Cross was in a crowded cafeteria when his holstered P320 discharged as he adjusted it, firing a bullet into the floor by his foot thetrace.org. No one was injured, but this occurred one day before Florida signed a law allowing teachers to carry guns at school, drawing national attention thetrace.org. Cross insisted he did not pull the trigger; nevertheless, he was disciplined and later fired for the incident thetrace.org. Pasco County later acknowledged two other deputies had similar P320 misfires that did result in leg wounds (in those cases the deputies were cleared of wrongdoing) thetrace.org.


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2019–2021 – Pasco County, FL (Deputy Injuries): In addition to the Wesley Chapel case, two Pasco County deputies suffered accidental gunshot injuries to their legs when their P320 sidearms discharged without a trigger pull thetrace.org. Both deputies maintained their fingers were off the trigger and were found not at fault by the agency thetrace.org. In response, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office decided to remove all P320s from service in 2021, switching back to Glock pistols for duty use thetrace.org.

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Dec 2020 – Bridge City, TX (Police Station): Detective Brittney Hilton was at the police station when her P320 (holstered in her purse) suddenly fired. The bullet tore through her groin and exited near her lower back, missing an artery by millimeters abc7.com. Hilton, a mother of three, nearly bled out and still suffers chronic pain. Critically, the pistol was still in her purse when it fired abc7.com. Sig Sauer’s analysis for this case claimed a “foreign object” (likely her keys) must have entered the trigger guard and caused the discharge abc7.com. Hilton strongly disputes this, noting the gun was secured in a holster inside the handbag abc7.com. This incident became one of the high-profile examples in litigation (Hilton filed a $15 million lawsuit) and underscores the potentially fatal consequences of an uncommanded discharge.

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July 28, 2022 – Somerville, MA (Police Parking Lot): Officer Ashley Catatao was carrying gear to her cruiser when her holstered service P320 fired, hitting her in the thigh thetrace.org. Surveillance video confirmed her hand was nowhere near the weapon at the moment of discharge thetrace.org. She was cleared of any negligence, but because her department still issues the P320, she continues to carry it on duty without a round chambered out of fear, saying “I don’t trust it” thetrace.org.

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Sept 10, 2022 – Milwaukee, WI (Traffic Stop/Search): Milwaukee PD Officer Yang Lee was searching a suspect’s vehicle when the P320 holstered on his hip fired by itself, the round striking his partner in the thigh fox6now.com. This was the second such accidental shooting in Milwaukee PD in three years thetrace.org. (An earlier Milwaukee incident in 2019 had also resulted in an officer’s leg wound.) The 2022 event prompted Milwaukee’s police union to file a safety grievance and added impetus to the department’s decision to replace the P320 (see agency responses below). Officer Lee suffered emotional trauma and no longer trusts the gun fox6now.com; he and his injured partner later joined lawsuits against Sig Sauer.

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July 24, 2023 – Montville, CT (Police HQ Arrest): A Montville officer’s P320 “spontaneously discharged” in the station lobby while he was handcuffing a suspect, with security cameras recording the event police1.com. The video showed the officer’s finger was not on the trigger when the holstered gun fired police1.com. The bullet ricocheted off a wall; by great luck no one was hurt police1.com. This close call led the Montville Police Chief to immediately pull all P320s from service (detailed in the agency section) due to the unacceptable risk.

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Oct 2024 – Spokane, WA (Police Academy Training): During a basic academy training session, a recruit’s holstered P320 discharged as he drew the weapon from his belt, with the bullet striking the ground and fragmenting police1.com. An instructor and another recruit were hit by shrapnel and injured (minor injuries) police1.com. The recruit and a witnessing instructor both stated the recruit’s finger was outside the trigger guard and not on the trigger when it fired police1.com. This incident led the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission to investigate and ultimately ban the P320 from its facilities (see below).


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• Other Reported Cases: In addition to the above, many similar incidents have been documented across the country. For example, a La Grange, Texas police officer Kevin Currington was wounded by his holstered P320 in 2022, and a school resource officer in Marble Falls, TX (Officer Hunter Gally) also suffered an accidental discharge injury under similar circumstances news9.com. An Army veteran in Philadelphia, George Abrahams, was shot through the thigh in June 2020 when his holstered P320 (zippered in a pocket) discharged – an incident later examined in court (Abrahams did not realize what happened until later) police1.com. Tragically, evidence has surfaced linking the P320 to at least one death as well stateline.org, though details of that fatal case have not been widely publicized. The common thread in these accounts is that the weapon fired during routine handling (holstering, carrying, or simply wearing it) with no intentional trigger pull, raising alarms among firearms experts that “what we’re seeing is highly unusual” and indicative of a potential design flaw thetrace.org.
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Legal Actions and Lawsuits
Dozens of P320 owners – including police officers, federal agents, and private citizens – have taken legal action against Sig Sauer, alleging the pistol is dangerously defective. Since 2018, more than 100 plaintiffs have come forward claiming their P320 discharged on its own and caused injury fox6now.com. As of early 2023, at least five lawsuits had quietly settled out of court (often with confidentiality) thetrace.org, while Sig Sauer won a few early cases via summary judgment and one defense jury verdict thetrace.org. However, recent high-profile trials have validated the plaintiffs’ claims:
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Kyle Guay v. Sig Sauer (2020, NH): One of the first P320 cases to reach a jury was brought by Kyle Guay, who was wounded by his P320. The jury found in favor of Sig Sauer (accepting the argument that the trigger must have been pulled), but notably the trial judge later wrote she did not believe Guay had pulled the trigger. Judge Landya McCafferty criticized Sig’s experts as “unpersuasive” and “dismissive” of numerous similar misfire allegations thetrace.orgthetrace.org. She found Guay “credible in every respect,” essentially opining that the gun likely did discharge without a trigger pull thetrace.orgthetrace.org. This unusual post-trial commentary underscored the accumulating evidence of a defect, even though Sig avoided liability in that particular case.

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Lang v. Sig Sauer (June 2023, GA Federal Court): In a landmark verdict, a Georgia jury unanimously found Sig Sauer liable for a defective P320 after Robert Lang of Roswell, GA was shot by his holstered P320 in 2018 thetrace.orgthetrace.org. The pistol fired as Lang was removing his holster at home, sending a bullet through his thigh and out near his kneethetrace.orgthetrace.org. Jurors concluded the P320 was defectively designed and that Sig Sauer failed to warn consumers about the risk of unintended dischargesthetrace.org. They awarded Lang $2.35 million in damages thetrace.org. This was the first jury verdict holding the P320’s design responsible for an uncommanded firing, marking a major turning point. (Sig Sauer has stated it “strongly disagrees” with the verdict and is appealing, continuing to blame Lang’s handling for the incident thetrace.org.)

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Abrahams v. Sig Sauer (Nov 2023, PA State Court): In a separate trial, a Philadelphia jury awarded $11 million to Army veteran George Abrahams, who was injured when his P320 discharged while in his pocket stateline.org. Abrahams’s case revealed that his pistol was fully holstered and secured yet still fired, striking him in the leg. Jurors found Sig Sauer liable for his injuries, specifically citing the pistol’s lack of an external safety as a design defect (unlike many other pistols, the standard P320 has no manual safety or trigger tab) stateline.orgthetrace.org. In essence, the jury decided that if the P320 had an additional safety mechanism, the shooting would likely not have occurred. These two big plaintiff victories (Lang and Abrahams) together forced Sig Sauer to face over $13 million in combined damages news9.com, greatly intensifying pressure on the company to address the problem.

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Multi-Plaintiff and Class Actions: In addition to individual suits, claimants have joined forces. In early 2025, a new federal lawsuit was filed on behalf of 22 victims across 16 states, the majority being law enforcement officers fox6now.com. This suit (spearheaded by Attorney Robert Zimmerman) seeks both monetary compensation and a court-ordered


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recall of the P320 handguns fox6now.com. Zimmerman, who represents over 100 P320 owners in various cases, states: “The reality is people are experiencing unintended discharges when their hands are not even on the gun.”fox6now.comfox6now.com. Another prominent attorney, Jeffrey Bagnell, is representing several police officers (including Detective Hilton in Texas) in individual lawsuits, calling the P320’s issues “a very serious safety problem for law enforcement and for the public at large” abc7.com. Bagnell’s filings documented 54 reported uncommanded discharges of the P320 between 2016 and 2021 across 22 states and D.C. abc7.comabc7.com – a statistic used to argue that Sig Sauer knew or should have known of the defect.
• Settlements and Ongoing Cases: Many cases are still winding through the courts. Sig Sauer has reportedly settled a number of claims confidentially to avoid jury trials. For example, media reports indicate the company settled two injury lawsuits (one in Georgia, one in Pennsylvania) in 2022–2023 for a total of over $13 million news9.com (these appear to correspond to the Lang and Abrahams cases post-verdict). Meanwhile, other injured parties – from federal ICE agents to local police officers and civilians – have suits pending. An Oklahoma gun owner whose P320 fired in its holster in 2018 is fighting to reinstate his case in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals stateline.org. The growing litigation has caught national attention because it is unusual for a modern handgun design to face so many similar injury claims. Plaintiffs uniformly assert that no firearm should discharge in these holstered or routine-handling scenarios, and they argue Sig Sauer must retrofit or recall the P320 to prevent further harm. Sig Sauer’s legal stance remains that the P320 is safe and that any accidents are due to user negligence or unforeseeable circumstances abc7.com. Thus far, the company has not issued any recall, and it continues to defend the weapon in court even as some juries and judges have sided with the victims.
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Law Enforcement Agency Bans and Policy Responses
Multiple law enforcement agencies and training academies have reacted decisively to the P320 controversy, either banning the weapon from use or removing it from their inventory to protect officers. These decisions are often accompanied by official statements citing safety concerns:
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Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission (WSCJTC): In February 2025, the state police academy in Washington (WSCJTC) banned recruits from using the Sig P320 in training, citing the growing number of reports that the firearm can discharge without a trigger pull police1.com. This followed a four-month inquiry into the October 2024 academy incident in Spokane. The academy’s executive director, Monica Alexander, issued the ban “out of an abundance of caution” for recruit and instructor safety police1.com. A WSCJTC workgroup reviewed numerous P320 discharge incidents (with bodycam footage and lawsuit documents) and even invited Sig Sauer representatives to participate police1.com. Sig Sauer’s team maintained the P320 is safe (they cited independent tests showing no mechanical failure and noted that three internal safeties would all have to fail for an involuntary discharge) police1.com. Nonetheless, WSCJTC decided its priority was providing a safe learning environment, not proving the gun’s design one way or another police1.com. The result is a permanent ban of P320s in Washington state police training, unless and until the safety issue is conclusively resolved.

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Washington State & Pacific NW Police Agencies: Even before the academy’s action, several Washington agencies had proactively prohibited officers from carrying the P320. According to The Seattle Times, the Vancouver (WA) Police Department and the Clark County and Pierce County Sheriff’s Departments all disallowed use of the P320 by their officers due to concerns over unintended discharges police1.com. These bans were implemented as preventative safety measures after hearing of incidents elsewhere. Washington’s example illustrates a regional ripple effect: once one academy or major department bans the weapon, neighboring agencies often re-evaluate their own policies.

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Oklahoma CLEET and Oklahoma City PD: In Oklahoma, the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training (CLEET) — which runs the state’s police training center in Ada, OK — took similar steps in early 2025. In February, CLEET’s director ordered that Sig P320 pistols “will no longer be allowed” at the state training center unless equipped with an external manual safety news9.com. This effectively bars the standard P320 variant from training use (since most lack a manual safety). Internal emails among Oklahoma law enforcement, obtained via open-records request, revealed growing unease about the P320’s role in training news9.com. Around the same time, the Oklahoma City Police Department confirmed it had completely replaced its Sig Sauer P320 duty handguns with a different model (the Heckler & Koch VP9) news9.com. An OCPD major wrote that the change was recent and was implemented department-wide. These actions came on the heels of an incident in Blanchard, OK where a child inadvertently pulled the trigger on an officer’s P320 (while it was holstered) at a school – highlighting both trigger sensitivity and holster security issues news9.com. While that particular case was not a triggerless firing, it reinforced concern at the state level. Sig


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Sauer formally objected to Oklahoma’s restrictions, sending a letter calling the concerns “misleading and meritless,” news9.com but the policy stands.
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Milwaukee Police Department (Wisconsin): The Milwaukee PD’s experience with the P320 significantly influenced the national conversation. Milwaukee transitioned to the P320 as duty weapon around 2018–2019, only to experience a series of accidents. After two officers were injured in separate P320 discharge incidents (2019 and 2022), the Milwaukee Police Association (union) filed suit and officers raised alarms about the gun’s safety thetrace.orgthetrace.org. Officers wrote at least ten internal memos detailing misfire worries and noted a “2½ times increase in accidental discharges” with the P320 compared to the previous five years when they carried Smith & Wesson pistols thetrace.org. In a July 2020 meeting between Milwaukee PD and Sig Sauer officials (including the P320’s head engineer), when asked point-blank if the P320 can fire when jolted or dropped without trigger pull, the Sig reps declined to directly answer – even when asked twice thetrace.org. This evasiveness further eroded officer confidence. By late 2022, Milwaukee PD announced it would replace all P320s with Glock handguns, and that transition was underway by 2023 thetrace.orgfox6now.com. The union president said many officers were so distrustful of the P320 that they refused to take the gun home around family thetrace.org. Milwaukee’s move was widely reported and cited by other departments examining the issue.

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Dallas Police Department (Texas): DPD was one of the early adopters of the P320 but also among the first to reverse course. After reports of the drop-fire issue emerged in 2017, Dallas PD cancelled a planned roll-out of P320s (which had been selected to replace older pistols) and reverted to its previous sidearms. By 2018, Dallas had pulled P320s from service, making Texas one of the first states with major agencies reacting to the safety concerns stateline.org. (Dallas’s action predated many of the spontaneous discharge reports, being initially motivated by the drop safety failure – see technical section below).

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Philadelphia’s SEPTA Transit Police (Pennsylvania): The transit police in Philadelphia (SEPTA) also removed the P320 from their arsenal due to malfunctions stateline.org. This likely occurred around 2019–2020, as SEPTA officers were among those reporting misfires. Notably, Philadelphia was home to the Abrahams case and at least one other officer injury claim, which gave local impetus to drop the P320.

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Pasco County Sheriff’s Office (Florida): Following the Florida school incident and two deputy injuries (detailed above), the Pasco County Sheriff in 2021 announced a switch back to Glock 9mm pistols for all patrol and tactical deputies, phasing out the Sig P320 thetrace.org. Officially the sheriff’s office cited the benefit of having all units on the same weapon platform, but this move closely followed the safety incidents and was acknowledged as a risk-reduction measure. Other Florida agencies (e.g., some in southern Florida) quietly returned their P320s as well, though Pasco was the most publicized.

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Montville and Other Connecticut Departments: The Montville, CT Police Department provides a case study of a swift policy change. As noted, in July 2023 a Montville officer’s P320 discharged in the station lobby without input police1.com. Within three days, the Chief announced all P320s would be replaced by Glock 17s, stating “I don’t feel comfortable with our officers maintaining these guns” police1.com. Montville had issued the P320 to every officer, but the incident (“by the grace of God” not causing injury) was a final warning for them police1.com. Similarly, other


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Connecticut police departments began reconsidering their use of P320s. For example, Branford PD and others in CT reportedly exchanged or upgraded their P320s for different models after hearing of Montville’s experience (and noting the lack of external safeties) police1.compolice1.com.
• Other Notable Agency Decisions: According to a 2025 Stateline investigation, law enforcement agencies in at least seven states (Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, and others) have pulled the P320 from service due to safety concerns stateline.org. This includes small and large departments. For instance, one Alabama police chief (unidentified in the report) chose to sell off the barely-used P320s his department had acquired, citing the national reports of misfires. In New England, some academies began advising recruits not to purchase P320s as their duty weapon. Even the U.S. Army, which uses a variant of the P320 (the M17/M18), quietly implemented an additional manual safety on its pistols and noted in a 2018 report that the gun could discharge when dropped stateline.org. While the Army still fields the weapon, that acknowledgement bolstered law enforcement skepticism. By contrast, some agencies (e.g., U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) continue to authorize the P320 – ICE’s approved firearms list still includes it – but even ICE’s records show the P320 accounted for the majority of accidental discharges after its adoption thetrace.org. In summary, a significant number of police forces and training centers have concluded that the risk of an unintentional discharge is too great, and they have either banned the P320 outright or imposed strict conditions on its use. These collective actions by authoritative bodies lend credence to concerns that the P320 poses a unique safety liability in the field.
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Technical Evaluations and Design Changes (Pre-and Post-Upgrade)
Background – Drop Safety Issue (2016–2017): Soon after the P320’s introduction, a serious flaw was discovered: the pistol could fire when dropped at specific angles. U.S. Army testing in 2016 (during trials for the Army’s new sidearm) revealed that the P320 would discharge without any trigger pull if dropped just right stateline.org. This finding became public in mid-2017 when independent testers and videos demonstrated the drop-fire problem (for example, a video showed a P320 firing when it fell onto a concrete surface at a certain angle). In response, in August 2017 Sig Sauer announced a “Voluntary Upgrade” program to modify the P320’s design thetrace.org. The upgrade included lightening the trigger, adding a mechanical disconnector, and other internal changes to prevent inertia from causing the striker to release when dropped. Sig emphasized that the upgrade was not a recall – the company maintained that the original design still “meets and exceeds” safety standards, but offered the modifications free to any user who wanted them abc7.comthetrace.org. Essentially, after late 2017 all new P320s coming from the factory had these enhancements, and many police departments (Riverdale, GA for example) sent in their fleets for the retrofit thetrace.org.
The drop-fire vulnerability was largely addressed by this 2017 redesign. However, uncommanded discharge reports did not stop – instead, they shifted to other scenarios (notably, pistols firing while holstered or being carried, rather than being dropped from a height). This raised the question: Does the P320 still suffer from a fundamental safety issue even post-upgrade? Several kinds of evaluations have been done to answer this:
• Sig Sauer’s Position and Testing: Sig Sauer has consistently asserted that the P320 is safe and cannot fire without a trigger pull. They point out the pistol has internal safeties (a striker safety and disconnect) meant to prevent firing unless the trigger is depressed police1.com. According to Sig, no government or private laboratory testing has ever been able to make a P320 fire on its own – outside of the known pre-2017 drop scenario thetrace.org. During the Washington state review, Sig’s engineers presented that for an “involuntary discharge” to occur, three separate safety mechanisms would all have to fail simultaneously (an extremely unlikely event) police1.com. Sig’s official statement (2022) emphasized that “the P320 model pistol is among the most tested, proven, and successful handguns in small arms history”, noting it passed all U.S. and NATO safety tests thetrace.org. In incidents where the gun did fire, Sig often concludes a foreign object or improper handling was the cause – for example, their analysis of the Bridge City incident claimed keys in Detective Hilton’s purse probably entered the trigger area abc7.com, and in a Connecticut police case (Montville) Sig’s investigators suggested the holster design (which covered the trigger inadequately) was at fault snipershide.com. In sum, Sig Sauer stands by the P320’s design and attributes the string of accidents to user negligence or unusual circumstances. The company also highlights that millions of P320s are in circulation, used by hundreds of law enforcement agencies, the Army, and civilian owners who have not experienced issues – implying the incidents, while real, are a tiny fraction of overall P320 use.
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Independent Expert Assessments: Independent firearms experts and some law enforcement trainers have voiced concern that something is inherently different about the P320. Dr. Bill Lewinski, a renowned behavioral scientist specializing in police firearms use, stated that the number and frequency of these incidents is “strongly suggestive of a design flaw versus a human performance error.” He noted that this pattern of so many unintended discharges with one specific model is highly unusual in the industry thetrace.org. In other words, while accidental discharges happen with all guns, the P320’s spike in incidents (80+ injuries since 2016) is beyond the norm thetrace.orgthetrace.org. Another firearms analyst, quoted in news reports, remarked that he was “not aware of any other modern pistol” that had this persistent problem abc7.com. These experts suspect the P320’s mechanical design – possibly the fire control unit geometry or the absence of a trigger safety blade – makes it more prone to discharge if jostled in just the wrong way. One theory raised in court is that pressure on the side of the frame or holster could slightly move the trigger shoe or striker, just enough to bypass the internal safeties. Notably, in the Milwaukee PD meetings, when officers directly asked Sig’s engineers if something like holster pressure or a jolt could cause a discharge, the engineers did not give a reassuring “no” – prompting the Milwaukee captain to record that the reps essentially would not deny the possibility thetrace.org.

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Law Enforcement Agency Findings: We have data from agencies that kept detailed records during their P320 usage. The Milwaukee PD found that accidental discharges more than doubled after switching to P320 – a 250% increase compared to when officers carried different guns thetrace.org. This was based on a multi-year comparison in an internal memo. Likewise, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) tracked weapon discharges: in 2017–2018 (before adopting the P320), ICE had 7 unintentional discharges across all agents, but after adopting the P320 in 2019, they had 12 unintentional discharges in just 18 months, with 7 injuries – an unprecedented jump thetrace.org. By the end of 2022, at least 3 additional ICE agents had been injured by P320 misfires thetrace.org. Despite this, ICE still authorizes the model, but the data strongly suggested the P320 introduced a new risk factor. Separately, some investigations of individual incidents have exonerated the users: e.g., the Riverdale, GA case where an officer passed a polygraph confirming he hadn’t touched the trigger thetrace.org, and the Spokane academy case where an instructor confirmed the recruit’s finger was off the trigger police1.com. In those instances, the agencies logically concluded the gun acted without direct trigger pull. The Montville, CT case was backed by surveillance video that plainly showed the gun firing during a scuffle with no finger on the trigger police1.com – compelling enough evidence that the chief immediately ordered the guns removed. These real-world observations by police departments carry weight: collectively, they indicate that even the post-upgrade P320 can fire under conditions where it should not.

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Courtroom Evidence (Post-Upgrade Pistols): The recent trials brought to light some technical revelations. In the Lang trial (pistol made in 2018, thus already upgraded), expert testing found that Lang’s P320 required only 4.5 pounds of pressure on the trigger to fire, despite the factory spec being about 6.0 pounds thetrace.org. Furthermore, the trigger had a very short travel – moving only ~0.2 inches (a few millimeters) to discharge thetrace.org. For comparison, a Glock’s trigger needs to move more than twice that distance and has a built-in safety tab thetrace.org. Jurors in that case and the


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Philadelphia case were swayed by the fact that Sig chose not to include a Glock-style trigger safety on the P320 thetrace.orgstateline.org. Testimony revealed Sig Sauer had originally prototyped an optional trigger safety for the P320 but ultimately omitted it in production thetrace.org. The rationale was that their internal testing (pre-release) showed the pistol passed drop tests without it – but as one attorney pointed out, a simple trigger safety might have prevented many of these holster and jostle-induced shootings thetrace.orgthetrace.org. Additionally, the P320’s action mechanism was debated: Sig had often marketed the pistol as having a DAO (double-action only) striker system, implying a longer, heavier trigger pull. Under oath in 2023, the P320’s designer Sean Toner conceded the gun is actually closer to a single-action striker design thetrace.org. This admission is important because single-action firing systems (where the striker is pre­cocked and the trigger only releases it) are generally more prone to accidental discharge if not properly safeguarded, compared to true double-action systems thetrace.org thetrace.org. Essentially, in a P320 the internal striker is in a state of partial tension (pre­cock) and the trigger pull is doing less work than advertised – meaning a light touch or slight movement can release the striker. This aligns with observations that some P320s may fire from minimal inputs, especially if tolerances stack up poorly in a particular specimen.
• Known Causes vs. Unknowns: Some P320 misfires have been explained by identifiable causes: for instance, the Michigan deputy’s case with the seatbelt depressing the trigger thetrace.org, or the California (Rancho Cucamonga) case where a set of keys in an officer’s pocket pushed the trigger while he walked, causing a shot in the locker room thetrace.org. These are arguably not mechanical failures but user/environment issues (holster design, carrying method, etc.). Sig Sauer frequently cites such examples to assert that many P320 incidents are actually negligent discharges – the trigger was pulled, just not intentionally by the user thetrace.orgthetrace.org. However, many other incidents defy such explanation, especially when they involve proper duty holsters and normal handling. The fact that multiple discharges occurred with the gun fully holstered in high-quality police holsters (Safariland level-3 holsters, etc.) is a red flag. In Milwaukee, the concerned officers noted that these were seasoned cops with good discipline, yet their guns still went off under normal activities. When Sig’s own engineer acknowledges the gun is effectively single-action thetrace.org, it suggests that the margin for error is smaller – if any object or perturbation moves the trigger even a little, the gun can fire. Glock and other striker pistols mitigate this with the trigger safety tab and other features; the P320 relies purely on internal safeties that may not cover every contingency. As one firearms instructor summarized: the P320 only blocks trigger movement; it has no external safety, so if the trigger is moved (by anything), the gun will fire – there is no second layer of prevention reddit.com.
In conclusion, technical evaluations show a divide between Sig Sauer’s official testing (which finds no reproducible defect under lab conditions) and the empirical evidence from the field (which documents dozens of out-of-the-blue discharges). The 2017 voluntary upgrade fixed a specific drop-fire problem, yet it did not put an end to reports of spontaneous firings. Experts point to the design trade-offs Sig made – a lighter, shorter trigger without a safety tab, and a partially pre-cocked striker – as creating a pistol that can more easily discharge if the trigger encounters any pressure, however indirect. The inability of anyone to intentionally replicate
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these discharges on command in testing does not erase the real incidents; as the Washington Post/Trace investigators wrote, these events “occurred during routine movements” like holstering or climbing stairs, with video in several cases showing the victim’s hand was nowhere near the gunthetrace.orgthetrace.org. This pattern, combined with mounting legal and law enforcement scrutiny, strongly indicates that the Sig Sauer P320 still poses an atypical risk of unintentional discharge despite the 2017 design changes.
Bottom Line: For an organization evaluating firearm safety (such as a church safety team), the P320’s track record is problematic. The pistol’s “outstanding safety record” touted by the manufacturer stateline.org is called into question by the sheer number of incidents and the responsive measures taken by police agencies nationwide. Many law enforcement and industry experts now recommend opting for handguns with more proven safety features (e.g. trigger safeties or manual safeties) to avoid the liability of an unintentional discharge. In the words of one police chief after narrowly averting tragedy in his station: “I don’t feel comfortable with our officers maintaining these guns.” police1.com Given the documented cases, legal judgments, and expert findings compiled above, a strong, evidence-based case can be made for prohibiting the use of the Sig Sauer P320 in contexts where absolute trust in a firearm’s safety mechanism is required.
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Sources:
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Washington Post / The Trace joint investigation (Apr 11, 2023) – “One of America’s Favorite Handguns Is Allegedly Firing On Its Owners.” thetrace.orgthetrace.org thetrace.orgthetrace.orgthetrace.org

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Stateline news report (Pew Charitable Trusts, Mar 10, 2025) – “More law enforcement agencies reconsider use of popular Sig Sauer P320 handgun.” stateline.orgstateline.org stateline.org

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Police1.com – news articles on Washington Police Academy ban (Mar 2025) police1.compolice1.com and Montville, CT police replacing P320 (Jul 2023) police1.compolice1.com.

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FOX6 Milwaukee News – “Gun accidentally fired, Milwaukee officer joins lawsuit” (Mar 27, 2025) fox6now.comfox6now.comfox6now.comfox6now.com.

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ABC News (ABC7 Los Angeles) – “Det. Brittney Hilton sues Sig Sauer after holstered P320 pistol wounded her” (Aug 2021) abc7.comabc7.comabc7.com.

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News9 Oklahoma City – “Officials concerned over popular service weapon” (Aug 2023) news9.comnews9.comnews9.com.

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New Hampshire Public Radio / The Trace – “Jury awards $11M to man who says Sig Sauer P320 fired without trigger pull” (Dec 2023)stateline.org.

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Court records and filings (via The Trace) – details from Lang v. Sig Sauer trial (Atlanta, 2023)thetrace.orgthetrace.orgthetrace.org and Guay v. Sig Sauer (NH, 2020)thetrace.org thetrace.org.

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Official statements and documents – e.g. SIG Sauer statement on Montville incident sigsauer.com, U.S. DoD Annual Report (2017) on drop testingstateline.org, and ICE internal memo (2020) on P320 discharge statsthetrace.org.


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