“(1) unintentional discharges are not uncommon amongst both law enforcement and civilians, (2) improper or unsafe handling is one of the most common causes of unintentional discharges, and (3) unintentional discharges occur with several types of firearms and are not unique to the P320.” “These reports, among others, support three conclusions,” the response reads. In a written response to questions, SIG Sauer, based in Newington, New Hampshire, denied that the P320 was capable of firing without a trigger pull and cited accounts of unintentional discharges with other firearms as evidence that such issues with the P320 are neither uncommon nor suggestive of a defect with the gun. The bullet entered her groin and exited her back just inches from the base of her spine. Police officer Brittany Hilton said her holstered P320 fired while inside her purse as she walked to her car in Bridge City, Texas. Michael Parker, a welder, said his holstered P320 fired a bullet into his thigh as he removed the holster from his pocket while in his car in St. Navy veteran and former gunner’s mate Dionicio Delgado said his P320 fired a bullet through his thigh and into his calf after he holstered it during a training session at a gun range in Ruther Glen, Virginia. In several cases, records and videos show, the gun fired when a victim’s hand was nowhere near it. These have included the holstering or unholstering of the P320, climbing out of vehicles and walking down stairs. Interviews with more than a dozen victims, video recordings, and a review of thousands of pages of court documents and internal police records reveal a pattern of discharges that were alleged to have occurred during routine movements. In two cases, the guns went off on school grounds. The injured included both casual and expert firearm owners whose guns fired in their homes and offices and in busy public places like casinos and parking lots. “The number and frequency of injuries are strongly suggestive of a design flaw versus a human performance error,” said Bill Lewinski, a behavioral scientist and executive director of the Force Science Institute and one of the nation’s leading experts on accidental shootings.

At least 80 people were wounded in the shootings, which date to 2016.Ībout this partnership: This report is a joint investigation by The Trace and The Washington Post. More than 100 people allege that their P320 pistols discharged when they did not pull the trigger, an eight-month investigation by The Trace and The Washington Post has found. It has also gruesomely injured scores of people who say the gun has a potentially deadly defect. Since its introduction to the commercial market in 2014, manufacturer SIG Sauer has sold the P320 to hundreds of thousands of civilians, and the gun has been used by officers at more than a thousand law enforcement agencies across the nation, court records show. A variant of the weapon is the standard-issue sidearm for every branch of the U.S. The P320 is one of the nation’s most popular handguns. She called an ambulance while Jackson hobbled toward the front door, painting a trail of blood over the hardwood floors.Īt no point, Jackson later told police, had he touched the gun’s trigger. His wife heard the shot from down the hall and screamed.

“I heard ‘bang!’” said Jackson, 47, a locomotive engineer who lives in Locust Grove, Georgia. Suddenly, he said, the gun fired, sending a bullet tearing through his right buttock and into his left ankle. He slipped his holstered SIG Sauer P320 pistol onto his belt, put on a button-down shirt, and leaned across his bed for his wallet. One warm afternoon in May, Dwight Jackson was getting dressed for a visit to his favorite cigar lounge.

Somerville police