Author: Chris Ingalls
Published: 6:46 PM PDT July 24, 2025
Updated: 6:08 AM PDT July 25, 2025
SEATTLE — Gun manufacturer Sig Sauer quietly filed suit in Thurston County court last month, asking a judge to reverse the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission’s decision to ban police recruits from carrying the P320 model handgun.
The gun maker also wants the judge to stop the training commission’s “Executive Director from making public statements about the P320.”
In March, Executive Director Monica Alexander banned the popular police handgun on all WSCJTC facilities over concerns the weapon fires without a trigger pull.
The suit comes as the United State’s Air Force investigates what could be the first fatality from the Sig Sauer handgun firing on its own.
Sig Sauer has stated the gun is designed so that it will not shoot unless someone or something pulls the trigger.
On Sunday, an airman who carries the military version of the handgun, a Sig Sauer M18 pistol, died from a gunshot wound at the Francis E. Warren Air Force Base outside Cheyenne, Wyoming. The Air Force has released few details while it investigates the death of 21-year-old Brayden Lovan of Greenville, Kentucky.
However, the Global Strike Command subsequently ordered personnel not to carry M18’s while “safety investigations” take place. The ban only applies to the approximately 33,000 personnel of the Global Strike Command, not the entire Air Force.
In Washington, the training commission’s decision to ban the firearm has forced some police departments to shed their P320s, even though they don’t feel there is a risk. Police Departments in Bellevue, Kirkland and Anacortes have pushed back on the academy ban. All have begun the process of transitioning to a different model of weapon.
The WSCJTC began investigating the P320 last year when one of its firearms instructors said a recruit’s handgun fired on a gun range without the recruit pulling the trigger. The commission set up a task force and studied numerous reported “uncommanded discharges” from police departments across the country. Several incidents were captured on video.
Sig Sauer representatives met with the task force and presented their evidence that the gun was safe. The company says the gun has five internal safety features that prevent it from firing unless the trigger is pulled. Unlike the M18, the civilian version P320 does not have an external safety switch. After months of study, Washington's police4 academy director Alexander banned the P320, M17 and M18 handguns.
In its lawsuit, Sig Sauer said the ban “is unnecessary, unprecedented, not well grounded in fact or law and harmful to Sig Sauer.”
Meanwhile, another police officer sued the gun maker this week.
Veteran police officer Richard Fernandez Jr., from Houston, Texas, said his gun fired while holstered last January and shot him in the leg.
Rusty Hardin and Associates, which filed suit on the officer’s behalf, released a video with Fernandez talking about the incident.
“They were putting tourniquets on me and I think I said something like, ‘This is the way I’m going to get shot?” he said, stunned that the bullet came from his own gun.
Fernandez’s suit says the P320 is designed defectively and demands damages for pain, anguish and medical expenses in an undisclosed amount.
Sig Sauer did not return a message seeking comment.
L|A
Published: 6:46 PM PDT July 24, 2025
Updated: 6:08 AM PDT July 25, 2025
SEATTLE — Gun manufacturer Sig Sauer quietly filed suit in Thurston County court last month, asking a judge to reverse the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission’s decision to ban police recruits from carrying the P320 model handgun.
The gun maker also wants the judge to stop the training commission’s “Executive Director from making public statements about the P320.”
In March, Executive Director Monica Alexander banned the popular police handgun on all WSCJTC facilities over concerns the weapon fires without a trigger pull.
Airman dies from handgun firing on its own
The suit comes as the United State’s Air Force investigates what could be the first fatality from the Sig Sauer handgun firing on its own.
Sig Sauer has stated the gun is designed so that it will not shoot unless someone or something pulls the trigger.
On Sunday, an airman who carries the military version of the handgun, a Sig Sauer M18 pistol, died from a gunshot wound at the Francis E. Warren Air Force Base outside Cheyenne, Wyoming. The Air Force has released few details while it investigates the death of 21-year-old Brayden Lovan of Greenville, Kentucky.
However, the Global Strike Command subsequently ordered personnel not to carry M18’s while “safety investigations” take place. The ban only applies to the approximately 33,000 personnel of the Global Strike Command, not the entire Air Force.
Sig Sauer says Washington's ban is 'unnecessary'
In Washington, the training commission’s decision to ban the firearm has forced some police departments to shed their P320s, even though they don’t feel there is a risk. Police Departments in Bellevue, Kirkland and Anacortes have pushed back on the academy ban. All have begun the process of transitioning to a different model of weapon.
The WSCJTC began investigating the P320 last year when one of its firearms instructors said a recruit’s handgun fired on a gun range without the recruit pulling the trigger. The commission set up a task force and studied numerous reported “uncommanded discharges” from police departments across the country. Several incidents were captured on video.
Sig Sauer representatives met with the task force and presented their evidence that the gun was safe. The company says the gun has five internal safety features that prevent it from firing unless the trigger is pulled. Unlike the M18, the civilian version P320 does not have an external safety switch. After months of study, Washington's police4 academy director Alexander banned the P320, M17 and M18 handguns.
In its lawsuit, Sig Sauer said the ban “is unnecessary, unprecedented, not well grounded in fact or law and harmful to Sig Sauer.”
Meanwhile, another police officer sued the gun maker this week.
Veteran police officer Richard Fernandez Jr., from Houston, Texas, said his gun fired while holstered last January and shot him in the leg.
Rusty Hardin and Associates, which filed suit on the officer’s behalf, released a video with Fernandez talking about the incident.
“They were putting tourniquets on me and I think I said something like, ‘This is the way I’m going to get shot?” he said, stunned that the bullet came from his own gun.
Fernandez’s suit says the P320 is designed defectively and demands damages for pain, anguish and medical expenses in an undisclosed amount.
Sig Sauer did not return a message seeking comment.
L|A
