Disaster Milwaukee Police Afraid of Handguns Randomly Firing: Report - Remember: the first rule of firearms safety is to have fun

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Milwaukee police said they were so afraid of their department-issued handguns randomly firing, they wouldn't bring them home near their family​

Natalie Musumeci
Apr 11, 2023, 3:03 PM





A Sig Sauer P320 handgun. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

• Milwaukee police were worried about their SIG Sauer P320 handguns randomly firing.
• "They don't want it around their family," a police union head told The Washington Post.
• A Washington Post/The Trace investigation found dozens of reports of the handguns firing without a trigger pull.

Officers with Wisconsin's Milwaukee Police Department were reportedly so worried about their SIG Sauer P320 handguns randomly firing that they wouldn't bring the weapon home.

"Our officers are fearful of the gun," Milwaukee Police Association officers union head Andrew Wagner told The Washington Post as part of an investigation published on Tuesday.

"They're not taking it home. They don't want it around their family," Wagner said of the department-issued semi-automatic pistol.

An eight-month investigation by The Washington Post and The Trace found that more than 100 people claim that their P320 pistols fired when they did not pull the trigger in incidents dating back to 2016, according to the report.

The investigation also found that at least 80 people were wounded in those shootings.

A representative for New Hampshire-based gun manufacturer SIG Sauer did not immediately respond to requests for comment by Insider on Tuesday.

In a statement to The Washington Post, the gunmaker denied that the P320 was able to fire without someone pulling the trigger.

In December, Milwaukee police began replacing the SIG Sauer pistols with Glock firearms, local outlet Fox6 reported.

"They're really happy that they are not going to have to worry about endangering the community or themselves when they are carrying these firearms they currently have," Wagner said at the time.

 

[CharlesBarkley]

I’m not a gun dude, but I always hear niggas talking about sigs and MP shields or whatever being top dogs.

If I would buy a gun though, Apache pistol except with sweet katanas on each end.

 

[MembersSchoolPizza]

I don't know, I've a revolver. Unlike police, my ass is on the line for each shot I'd take. I lack the luxury of magdumping. More moving parts to go wrong, safeties forgotten in the moment, "most civilian-involved shootings are resolved in 3 or 4 shots." Ergo, a revolver. Plus I can shoot out of my pocket.

DA revolvers have one thing that autoloaders don't: The ability to ignore a failure to fire and almost complete immunity to jamming. Gun don't go bang? Just pull the trigger again. No need to fuck around trying to clear it.

The tradeoff is ammo capacity and reload speed, of course.

That said, I carry a compact .45 auto, I've only got one more round than a revolver. I can reload faster, if I have to, but I rarely carry a spare magazine. My general feeling is if one magazine doesn't do it, I'm probably not going to get a second magazine anyways.

So yeah, I've thought about switching to a revolver, but I don't like to carry them for ergonomic reasons.

 

[Romulus augustulus]

Just carry a big iron like me. most days i carry this ^ in .45, ive shot it so many times i dont really have to aim much anymore. if a 260gr JHP going 1450 FPS wont put down a raging black i was fucked anyway.

 

[Slappy McGherkin]

I don't know, I've a revolver. Unlike police, my ass is on the line for each shot I'd take. I lack the luxury of magdumping. More moving parts to go wrong, safeties forgotten in the moment, "most civilian-involved shootings are resolved in 3 or 4 shots." Ergo, a revolver. Plus I can shoot out of my pocket.

My next purchase is the new Colt Python. 4" barrel. Honestly, just like in Dirty Harry, a high mag revolver round will literally blow a hole in or a head off.

So what's it gonna be punk? Did I fire five rounds or six?

The Colt snake guns are one of the most collectible and to this day, they are all high dollar. Why? They're indestructible and they never fail. The only revolver I have at the moment is some untraceable piece of shit from the streets of Baltimore. An H&R 32. Can't hit the broadside of a barn with it, definite Sat Nite Special. Stick it somebody's gut and pull the trigger. Only keep it as a drop gun.

And oh... it's the same gun (model) John Lennon was shot and killed in NY with. Infamous history.

In other news, Baltimore is doing a yuge gun buy back this weekend. Crisp hunnits for anything you turn in. And some gun forum autists I know are taking boxes of piece of shit guns and useless magazines like the H&R I described and cashing them in to buy new ARs and shit. Serious as a heart attack.

Can't blame them.




Although they do say "gift cards" this year. Pics from previous event.

Meh.

 

[reptile baht spaniard rid]

1911a1 for life. Single stack makes it nice if you’re not a manlet.

If 9 rounds of .45 aren’t enough, carry two.

 

[Cpl. Long Dong Silver]

True dat. Was standard carry weapon for police/military for years. FS-9, super reliable. This was my step-father's (RIP). Mine now.

It's heavy metal though and not as light a carry as the polymer pew-pews these days. But that heavier weight makes it an easier, accurate shoot.

View attachment 5031364

I have a Beretta 92A1. Absolute tack driver and like you said it's heavy in a good way. If you run out of ammo you can beat someone to death with it.

My carry piece is a Glock or Walther depending on what I'm feeling in a day.

 

[murph]

We're going to take your guns to save you from the ghosts.

Utterly insane.

 

[Fatniggo1488]

Seriously? That's not a Glock problem.

I don't even know why they would mention that. Anyone who doesn't clear their weapon before cleaning it just deserves whatever happens to them.

 

[BiggerChungus]

I believe ever since the north Hollywood shootout in the 90s police have quickly moved away from revolvers. They were not able to penetrate the armor of the bank robbers. That moved police to carry more firepower.

Volume of fire and magazine capacity is what made semiautomatics king. Depending on the load .38 special is no slouch, and .357 would pack more power than most conventional semi rounds. That said, I wonder why they didn't just adopt the even stronger 10mm, though I guess .40 S&W is fairly close to .357 anyway.

 

[quackrock]

I have a Beretta 92A1. Absolute tack driver and like you said it's heavy in a good way. If you run out of ammo you can beat someone to death with it.

My carry piece is a Glock or Walther depending on what I'm feeling in a day.

Take the CZ 75 pill, bröther. My absolute favorite handgun of all time. Improves on the Beretta's strengths in every way.

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

I’ve always wondered why they can’t just use revolvers (with a shotgun in the backseat). Do beat cops really need semiautomatics? Seems too complicated for something hardly used.

My pa carried a 38 Special because he saw all misfire incidents were pistols.

 

[Town Drunk]

There is no such thing as a misfire or a gun going off it's own in the last 100 years of gun manufacturing. Even the shitty Nanbu needed you to hit the sear while holstering. A 150 dollar high point doesn't have these problems. Bad trigger control, and even if the gun is shit, just don't leave one in the chamber if you are afraid of this. Or just buy a Glock.

No surprise cops can't handle their guns. Same fuckers who can't tell a Tazer from a gun and shoot people in the back.

It just went off, in my hand = negligent discharge. There is a reason the NY 15 lb trigger is a thing. Because cops were too stupid to follow basic gun safety and needed the guns to be retard proof.

 

[reptile baht spaniard rid]

You know what, Milwaukee PD being scared of their own guns would explain how Fatrick has survived fifty five billion SWATTings

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

Big kek
@Town Drunk

 

[MembersSchoolPizza]

View attachment 5032768
Just carry a big iron like me. most days i carry this ^ in .45, ive shot it so many times i dont really have to aim much anymore. if a 260gr JHP going 1450 FPS wont put down a raging black i was fucked anyway.

I carry one of those in .44 as my backup when I'm hunting.

 

[VargReallyDidNothingWrong]

Why are so many modern guns striker fired?

You'd never have this issue with a Sig 226 because you could just decock it and the first shot would be a double action pull that you COULD do accidentally but it's extremely unlikely and there would be literally no way the gun could just "go off" because the hammer is down.

 

[Falcos_Commisar]

Glad I carry a M&P 2.0. Sig really has gone downhill since turning into the second iteration of Colt.

I also love the M&P series although SIG in 2023 is WAY better than Colt was in the last 30+ years. The P320 has an issue, they fixed it. My P365 is rock fucking solid.

I've owned a p320 for a few years now and it has been a very reliable pistol. The very first ones did have issues, but they've fixed that.

Yep, it's a good, if same-y striker fired semi auto.

I guarantee some dipshits desk-popped (as dipshits are wont to do) and between that and the (since resolved) drop safety issues being on the news a few years ago they all gravitated to "the guns must be defective" since "cops aren't hired for their dazzling intellect" couldn't possibly be the issue at hand.

Yeeepppp. Cop decides to finger fuck the duty piece at home and BAM "it Just went off Sarge '

The P320 issue has been fixed for over 5 years now.

Some (most) cops are just fucking retards when it comes to firearms, and because of the early issue where if you hit the back with a hammer at just the right point it would fire they're now acting like they fire by themselves to get out of negligent discharges due to mishandling/improper holsters.

Exactly

Why are so many modern guns striker fired?

You'd never have this issue with a Sig 226 because you could just decock it and the first shot would be a double action pull that you COULD do accidentally but it's extremely unlikely and there would be literally no way the gun could just "go off" because the hammer is down.

Because striker fired = the exact same trigger pull every time plus they're slightly easier to make/package as no space needed for a hammer.

 

[VargReallyDidNothingWrong]

Because striker fired = the exact same trigger pull every time plus they're slightly easier to make/package as no space needed for a hammer.

OK, a DA/SA also has the same exact trigger pull every time if you carry it cocked and locked (if it's got a manual safety vs a decocker).

 

[MembersSchoolPizza]

Why are so many modern guns striker fired?

You'd never have this issue with a Sig 226 because you could just decock it and the first shot would be a double action pull that you COULD do accidentally but it's extremely unlikely and there would be literally no way the gun could just "go off" because the hammer is down.

Properly designed, it shouldn't be possible with a striker-fired gun, either. There are at least two ways to make sure it doesn't happen - the sear should block the firing pin from moving forward unless the trigger is pulled, and some striker-fired guns don't cock fully until you pull the trigger - without pulling the trigger on guns designed that way, the striker shouldn't even have enough force to set the primer off in the event the block failed somehow.

We've worked the kinks out of the design, it was purely Sig fucking up. And it should never have happened, it should have been caught by QC, but Sig went through a period where their QC was shit.

 

[xXx: State of the Union]

OK, a DA/SA also has the same exact trigger pull every time if you carry it cocked and locked (if it's got a manual safety vs a decocker).

It has more to do with how much cheaper they are to produce, I'm pretty sure.

You'll find that many Millenial/Gen Z shooters have been indoctrinated to treat anything made with metal or has a hammer as "fudd" guns now. The conspiracy brain I have thinks it's purposefully been done to get consumers to want a cheaper gun. (unless it comes to AR's, then everything needs to be "Gucci")

That being said, I own a P365 XL and like it a lot. I just wish I could find a P228 without having to resort to fucking Gunbroker.