Editor’s Note: This article by Editor Rich Grassi appeared in Tuesday’s edition of The Tactical Wire. To subscribe to The Tactical Wire, and any of our other Wires, click here.
Recently, another “SIG P320 … BAD” story was released, this regarding the Washington State law enforcement academy banning the pistols at their facility. Recruits issued the P320 must now use other guns (loaner guns from academy stock? – I’m guessing here) to go through firearms training in basic.
The only way you don’t know of issues relating to the SIG P320 is if you lived in a cave or willfully ignored the lawsuit stories. As the P320 is likely “top of the pile,” if it wasn’t broadly attacked it’d be an anomaly.
The GLOCK line of pistols was likewise railed against for many years. People still talk trash on a pistol design that was approved by the government in 1911, an anniversary just past.
Seattle’s KING-5 news people did the deep dive on a case where an “emotionally disturbed person” had to be taken into custody in a retail establishment. A struggle occurred during which a round was fired from a holstered handgun. The agency determined it was the fault of “loose handcuffs” on the front of the deputy’s belt, which caused an arm of the cuffs to get into the holster-mouth and interact with the trigger.
If it was her gun that fired, I can’t see how the cuffs – worn in front of the gun – could make it back that far. A screen-shot image from the news station’s website from a video showed how they thought it could have happened. Here’s the image; you tell me.
No injuries were reported.
This is less about the gun, the maker, the gun’s design or general type, and more about how any modern striker fired gun can be fired in the holster.
If the gun had a light mounted and the holster had to be wide enough to accommodate the lumens, making it overly wide for the gun, it leaves a gap in the holster mouth. That allows a finger, of, say, a struggling suspect when the cop goes hands-on, or a zipper tab, or just about anything else to get inside the holster next to that trigger.
Ignore the comment on the screenshot; look at the holster opening, see how much space there is open between gun and holster.
For me, this is less a “defective gun” story than a “do we have too much junk to carry and put on our guns?” story.
When my outfit first went to guns with accessories rails, I’d asked “why not gun-lights for everyone?” I was told that someone would use the light on the gun to look around inside a violator’s car on nightshift; then use the gunlight to try to read the violator's license whilst it’s held in the officer’s other hand.
No, I replied. No one’s that stupid.
I was wrong.
We found out that it had already been done.
Do you need a light on your pistol? Are you a dog handler? Do you – or could you – be carrying a ballistic shield on high-risk entries?
In those cases, maybe. I used to hang a light on my G19 after I got home from work. I didn’t use it at work and if someone came in the house at zero-dark-thirty, it wasn’t going to be anyone who belonged there. Still, I practiced using bounce lighting to keep the muzzle off the “intruder.”
One never really knows.
That didn’t last long. I find hand held lights – especially the small, powerful lights of today – more useful than a light on a pistol.
As to long guns, you need two hands to wield the firearm and a light can be handy for target ID. Even then remember that it’s not a light – it’s a weapon. Don’t allow it to cover anything you can’t face destroying.
I’m not the first on this bandwagon, I could be close to the last. If the duty rig you’re using allows access to the trigger – by an item of clothing, a suspect’s digits, or anything else – you need to reconsider your carry.
As to the SIG P320 and all the press about it?
How would I know?
Note: All images used are screenshots from KING-5 News, Seattle.
— Rich Grassi
