A Georgia jury found New Hampshire-based gunmaker SIG Sauer liable in the shooting of a man who claimed his P320 pistol fired when he did not pull the trigger. The jury also awarded him $2.35 million in damages, the Trace reports. It’s the second of several dozen lawsuits involving the company’s flagship handgun to go to trial, and the first in which a jury determined that the gun was defectively designed. Last week, federal jurors in Atlanta found unanimously on all counts for Robert Lang of Roswell, Georgia, after deliberating for nine hours. They concluded not only that SIG Sauer defectively designed the P320, but also that the company had failed to provide adequate warnings to consumers about the risk of unintended shootings.
The verdict comes amid a storm of controversy for SIG Sauer regarding its popular P320 handgun. In April 2023, The Trace and The Washington Post published an investigation showing that more than 100 people had alleged that their P320s fired without the trigger being pulled, and at least 80 people had been injured in the shootings. SIG Sauer has maintained that the incidents were the result of unsafe handling and that the P320 is safe to use. An additional 14 people have sued SIG Sauer, reporting another 13 injuries. During the Georgia trial, Lang conceded that it’s possible an unknown object or pressure from his gun’s holster had manipulated the trigger, but he argued that a properly designed gun would possess safeties to prevent it from firing in such a situation, or at least be sold with warnings about the weapon’s sensitivity. “I just hope that my verdict will be the tip of the spear,” Lang said. “I hope that SIG will finally do what’s right and make sure no one dies from this defect.” Lang was carrying the most up-to-date version of the P320 pistol — released after the company modified the design in 2017 — when he attempted to remove the holstered weapon from his belt after returning home from work in December 2018. As part of his usual routine, Lang loosened his belt and reached for the weapon’s grip. That’s when he says it fired, still fully secured in its holster and with his fingers flat against the holster’s belt clip, away from the trigger.