The Sig Sauer P320 has been put on trial, both in the court of public opinion and in actual courts of law. Following multiple reports of uncommanded discharges (the weapon firing without the intention of its user), law enforcement agencies, shooting ranges and instructors, and competitive shooting leagues have banned the P320.
While lawsuits have been decided in Sig Sauer’s favor or settled out of court, recent cases have found the New Hampshire-based manufacturer liable for injuries attributed to the P320’s design.
On July 31, 2025, a federal jury unanimously concluded that the P320 is defectively designed and caused an injury to a Massachusetts police officer. The jury also concluded that the officer carried the P320 knowing it was defective; because of this, under Massachusetts law, the plaintiff was unable to recover damages.
Sig Sauer maintains, “The P320 cannot, under any circumstances, discharge without the trigger first being moved to the rear.”
The alleged uncommanded discharges cannot be exclusively attributed to versions of the P320 that lack an external thumb safety. One Marine Corps report documents an uncommanded discharge by an M18, a compact military version of the P320 equipped with a manual thumb safety. The report concludes that the weapon was on safe, in the holster, and not mishandled when it fired, and recommends an engineering review of the weapon.
The death of Airman Brayden Lovan, reportedly due to an uncommanded discharge by an M18, has led to Air Force-wide inspections of the pistol. Reports from Army and Marine Corps service members indicate changes in how the M18 and M17, the full-size military versions of the P320, are utilized. New guidance in some units includes keeping the handguns unloaded unless they are pointed downrange. The Sig Sauer remains the official sidearm of the Department of Defense, and individual branches have not signaled any intent to change it; the Coast Guard elected to contract Glock pistols under the Department of Homeland Security.
With all the controversy surrounding the P320, what can be done? Some owners have elected to offload their P320s on the used market. However, this is complicated by certain retailers refusing to buy used P320s. Additionally, prices of used P320s have dropped from June to July 2025.
Instead of selling your P320 at a loss, one company aims to make the weapon safe using a patented fix.
Angled Spade Technologies is a Connecticut-based engineering and innovation firm. AST worked with engineer Brian McDonald to create and submit U.S. Patent Application US20250164203A1, a firearm safety with sear block for the P320. The patent notes that the P320 “is an incomplete and unsafe design,” citing multiple lawsuits based on uncommanded discharges.
“Our solution physically blocks the sear’s movement when the manual safety is engaged. Something that, to date, has not been a feature of the P320® and its variants,” AST Partner and Engineer Joe Salvador said in a press release. The statement summarizes that their mechanism acts as a redundant safety to ensure that the P320 cannot fire while the manual safety is engaged.
Notably, McDonald worked as a designer at Sig Sauer from 2011 to 2016. His work history with the company includes designing parts for pistols, creating fixtures for testing, and developing test plans to evaluate pistol function and durability. When contacted about the patent, which lists him as the applicant and inventor, McDonald deferred to AST, noting that the patent is licensed to them.
AST acknowledges McDonald’s previous employment by Sig Sauer, but states that the patent “was not affiliated with, nor did it include input from, Sig Sauer® or any of its affiliates.” The company told We Are The Mighty that McDonald was hired as a contractor for a project in 2022; the idea for the safety came out of that project, and AST acquired the rights to the design, finished development, and applied for the patent.
In 2023, after filing the provisional patent, AST states that they “extended a professional courtesy to Sig Sauer by offering them the first right of refusal on the safety-enhancing design.” AST reports that Sig Sauer declined to engage, and AST proceeded with the patent process.
Sig Sauer confirmed that they are aware of the patent application and maintain that the P320 is one of the most popular pistols in the world due to its record of safety and reliability.
“Mr. McDonald’s claims that these parts correct any unsafe design of the P320 are false,” Sig Sauer said in their response to an inquiry from We Are The Mighty. “Mr. McDonald did not collaborate with SIG SAUER on his design.”
With so much back and forth on uncommanded discharges and now this patent design, the P320 world is more complicated than an Astronomer.io HR meeting after a Coldplay concert. If you own a personal P320, we certainly can’t tell you what to do. Many agencies at the local, state, and federal levels have dropped the P320 in favor of Glock pistols. However, some agencies have stuck by the Sig.
If you’re in the military, there is one way that you might be able to avoid the M17/M18 if you so chose: work harder and get into a SOCOM unit. While some Special Operations units do issue the M17/M18 from their respective service, SOCOM allows subordinate units to issue the Glock 19-based Mk27.
