Australian Defence Force rolling out variant of handgun with history of accidental discharge allegations

Australia Broadcast Center

7 days ago

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is standing by its newly issued handgun despite a major command of the US military ordering an indefinite "pause" of the use of a similar weapon.
The US Air Force Global Strike Command ordered the M18 service pistol not be used until further notice after Airman Brayden Lovan died when his M18 unexpectedly fired on July 20, while he was on duty at a base in Wyoming.
The M18, and the ADF's new handgun, the F9 Sidearm Weapon System (SWS), are both based on a model of pistol known as the Sig Sauer P320.
"For the Australian Defense Forces, the SIG Special Weapons Group utilized a P320 variant similar to the U.S. Military's M18," Sig Sauer's website reads.
The discharge involving the airman is now the subject of a comprehensive US Air Force investigation.
"Our information is that the gun fired without the airman's hand or finger touching the trigger," said Robert Zimmerman, a lawyer who told ABC NEWS Verify his firm had been retained by the airman's mother.
A spokesman for the ADF said it was aware of an ongoing investigation into an incident with a US model M18 pistol.
It said the ADF's in-service F9 pistol system was different to the M18, without providing more detail. It did not respond to several other questions, including a further enquiry seeking an explanation on how exactly the F9 differed.
Sig Sauer has for years been plagued by allegations, and lawsuits, claiming its P320 can fire without its trigger being pulled.
The company vehemently denies this is possible, saying: "The P320 cannot, under any circumstances, discharge without a trigger pull.
"This is verified through extensive testing by Sig Sauer, the U.S. Military, elite law enforcement agencies, and independent laboratories," it says on its "P320 Truth" website.
Bill Lewinski is the founding partner of Force Science and an expert on accidental shootings.
He has previously told the Washington Post that "the number and frequency of injuries are strongly suggestive of a design flaw versus a human performance error. What we're seeing is highly unusual".
Mr Lewinski told ABC NEWS Verify that he stood by the statement.
"Further — without a clear understanding of the reason for the problem or any subsequent effort at remediation, some of our local to national departments are in full retreat in the use of the P320," he said.
The firearm is what is known as "striker-fired". The striker, like a "firing pin" in a rifle, is the object that impacts the primer in a cartridge, firing a bullet.
In the P320, and its variants, the striker is at all times held back by spring tension — meaning when the trigger is pulled, the striker simply moves forward.
The firearm contains internal safety systems that are designed to prevent the firearm from discharging without the trigger being pulled.
Mr Zimmerman said his firm represented more than 100 individuals and family members of people who had been injured or killed by P320 variants.
"We believe this is the most dangerous pistol available on the market for users and those around the gun," he told ABC NEWS Verify.
"We are aware of well over 350 incidents of unintended discharges in total," he said.
Mr Zimmerman said his law firm had been retained by the mother of the airman killed on July 20.
He said he understood the 21-year-old's gun fired while still in its holster, after it was placed on a table.
"I believe it was prudent for the division of the US Air Force to halt its use of the P320 variant at this time, and we and our clients are calling for others to follow suit," he said.
Unlike some variants of the P320, the F9 and the M18 used by the US Air Force feature an external manual safety, designed to prohibit the trigger function of the firearm.
Jeffrey Webb is a master gunsmith from US gun store Grey Wolf Armory. He is a long-term critic of the P320, and in 2022, he wrote an analysis as an expert witness for a case against Sig Sauer.
"This author has firsthand accounts of a sample M17 pistol [the US Army's less-compact P320 variant] finding the manual thumb safety disengaged while still in its holster through normal body movement," the analysis read.
"The existence of, and voluntary use of, a manual thumb safety on this model firearm does not appear to fully mitigate that the firearm could discharge a round un-commanded by the user.
"The basic fact is that a single-action, striker-fired pistol with no inertia safety on the trigger (the two-stage trigger like on a Glock) is an unsafe design at its core," Mr Webb told ABC NEWS Verify.
"My advice, such as it is, to your military regarding adopting a P320 variant, is one word: DON'T," he said in an email, with capitals added.
The US Air Force Global Strike Command told ABC NEWS Verify it was currently conducting what it called "100 per cent inspections" of all M18 handguns "to identify any immediate safety concerns".
Sig Sauer addressed the US Air Force incident in a July 24 statement posted online.
"We proactively offered assistance to the U.S. Military as they investigate the incident and remain willing to help in furtherance of their ongoing inquiry," it said.
"We have absolute confidence in the Military's ability to conduct a thorough investigation and are working with the Air Force and Army to answer any of their questions."
In 2022, the ADF released a statement that said the federal government had signed a multi-million-dollar agreement "to start acquiring and supplying the next generation of small arms for the Australian Defence Force".
It revealed the ADF's new service pistol would be the Sig Sauer P320 XCarry Pro, which would be fitted with a sight and a torch.
The gun would replace the Browning Mk3 pistol, which had entered service in Australia in 1964.
The next year, in 2023, an eight-month-long investigation by the Washington Post and The Trace, a not-for-profit gun-related news outlet, revealed allegations from more than 100 people that their P320 pistols had discharged when they did not pull the trigger, with dozens injured.
Sig Sauer disputed the claims in the story. It addresses allegations of unintended discharges on its "P320 Truth" website.
"Verified incidents of unintended discharges are all attributed to improper handling, incompatible equipment (i.e. holsters), trigger access vulnerability, or a lapse in firearm safety, not to any defect in the P320," it reads.
The ADF designated its new pistol the F9, and its rollout began in 2024.
For a time, Sig Sauer sold an "AUSTRALIA M.O.D" model of the P320 as part of a program that sells "contract overrun firearms from militaries around the world".
The company's online advertising for the pistol also references Australia.
"In the scorching heat of the outback, the P320 is taking the Australian Defence Forces into the 21st century," it states.
The incident involving Airman Lovan and the M18 has reignited online discussion about the safety of the P320, and its variants, on social media and gun forums.
One video has attracted more than 800,000 views on YouTube alone — showing a man claiming to put a millimetre of pressure on his P320's trigger with a screw. He then plays with the gun's slide, causing it to fire. He repeats it four more times.
"If you have any debris, sand, carbon build-up, that's preventing the trigger from being fully disengaged… You basically have a hand grenade," one repost on X read, sharing part of the video.
ABC NEWS Verify asked Sig Sauer about the video, but did not receive a response by publication. The company's media representatives did not respond to any questions put to it.
The company posted a statement on its social media channels in early March captioned: "The P320. It ends today".
"The P320 CANNOT, under any circumstances, discharge without a trigger pull — that is a fact. The allegations against the P320 are nothing more than individuals seeking to profit or avoid personal responsibility," the post said.
"Furthermore, lawsuits claiming that the P320 is capable of firing without the trigger being pulled have been dismissed in courtrooms around the country," it said.
Sig Sauer has been successful in having several cases dismissed. But Mr Zimmerman said that was not the case for all.
"A gun should not be capable of firing when it is holstered and when the user is not touching the trigger," he told ABC NEWS Verify.
"The only two cases our firm has taken to verdict have resulted in findings for the Plaintiff and against Sig, where juries have found that Sig was negligent (and in one of the two cases, reckless) and that the P320's design is defective," he said.