Previous coverage has extensively delved into the fervor surrounding legal cases asserting that the SIG SAUER P320 handgun is susceptible to "unsolicited discharges." Upon a deeper examination of the specifics of the majority of these cases, it soon becomes evident that many of these are instances where law enforcement officials unintentionally fired their weapons and are seeking to safeguard their careers.
Last week, a video started making rounds on social media showing a holstered P320 firing off while a police officer from Montville, Connecticut, was in an altercation with a suspect. The video is accessible here . . .
Officer’s gun randomly goes off during arrest in Montville, CT.
— Donut Operator 🍩 (@DonutOperator) July 28, 2023
It was a Sig and the chief has already ordered 35 new Glocks for the department.
What do you think caused that?
(No sound on the video) pic.twitter.com/ouql74tq3a
The video lacks audio, but it seems that the pistol fired when the officer, carrying the P320, collided with a fellow officer on his right.
Even though the Montville Police Department reportedly declined SIG SAUER's offers to investigate the incident, SIG has meticulously inspected the available video, frame by frame, concluding that the gun wasn't fully nestled in the officer's Safariland holster, and the protective retention "hood" wasn't covering the gun at the time.
The company released the following statement . . .
SIG SAUER has issued the following response concerning a reported accidental discharge involving an officer from the Montville, CT Police Department on Monday, July 24, 2023:
"We are aware of the news reports of the incident involving a P320 discharge at the Montville (CT) Police Department. We are confident, as always, that a thorough review of the evidence and circumstances will reveal that this was an unintentional discharge due to accidental contact with the trigger, and that the gun did not fire without a trigger pull.
Upon reviewing the currently available video footage of this incident, it appears that the involved firearm was not fully secured in its holster and the holster retention hood was not entirely shut over the pistol at the time of the discharge (images below). This incorrect holstering would have left the firearm's trigger exposed and prone to activation. Even when properly holstered, the characteristics of the involved holster can allow foreign objects to infiltrate and interfere with the trigger, as seen in other incidents.
We regret that the involved agency hastily drew conclusions regarding the cause of this discharge without meticulously examining the incident footage and giving SIG SAUER an opportunity to aid in the inspection of the involved firearm.
The P320 model firearm is used efficiently and safely every day, by both civilians and armed professionals. Despite years of litigation and extensive fact-finding, no one has been able to recreate a scenario where the P320 could discharge without a trigger pull, and experts attempting to argue such a claim have consistently been dismissed from court as unqualified or unreliable. Three separate federal courts (in the cases of Frankenberry v. SIG SAUER, Mayes v. SIG SAUER, and Hilton v. SIG SAUER) have determined that the two experts who proposed a theory of uncommanded discharge are unfit to testify in court because they are unqualified or their opinions are untested and unreliable. In the only case concerning a P320 discharge to proceed to a full trial (Guay v. SIG SAUER), a jury of 12 rejected these experts’ unsubstantiated and unscientific theory, and ruled unanimously in favor of SIG SAUER. SIG SAUER stands firmly behind the demonstrated safety and reliability of the P320.”
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