The Milwaukee Police Department is reporting issues with their Sig p320s. It would appear based on the reports that this issue is a known issue with the Sig Sauer P320. This issue causes certain P320’s to discharge when dropped and the one police officer has been shot as a result of this issue.
This situation that caused this complaint occurred last year in July of 2020. 2 officers were tasked with putting a man into the back of a police car when one of their firearms went off injuring the arresting officer. It was unclear what exactly happened at the time but it would now appear that the firearm went off accidentally as result of a failure of the product.
The initial thought was that the man being arrested had been able to manipulate the firearm and get it to go off, DNA evidence has now cleared the suspect and it is clear that this was a freak accident. The local armorer investigating this firearm found that it was missing a small spring. This is consistent with other reports of the Sig P320 issues.
It has been previously reported that the Sig p320 often lacked a small safety lever spring, the pistols parts that were injection molded often had inconsistent surface areas, and the firearm’s design lead to potential for a “walk-off” of the striker from the sear. These issues can be directly attributed to a poor manufacturing process and poor quality control on the part of Sig Sauer.
In the case involving a Milwaukee police officer, the firearm discharged while not being manipulated and while it was in its holster. This was not a common issue with Sig P320s, this was a freak accident to be clear, but this was still extremely concerning considering the circumstances. The man who was arrested could have been put away for longer had it not been for DNA evidence clearing him of any wrongdoing in the discharge of the officer’s firearm.
