Sorry if this blog now seems like the all Sig Sauer P320 discharge blog, but this story is fresh and has too much impact to go unreported.
If you have been following any of the Sig Sauer P320 Summer Controversy you know Sig Sauer if currently in a public relations/media beat down over their P320 pistol being touted this season as unsafe and subject to uncommanded discharges, generally inside holsters.
Sig won’t back down from their position of the gun having advanced engineering and is safe after they fixed a drop discharge issue back in 2017.
This summer two Sig P320 discharge incidents have been huge in the gun world.
1. A Michigan State Trooper had a P320 discharge inside a holster- this was investigated by the FBI. At the end, the FBI could not reproduce another uncommanded discharge with the Trooper’s gun.
2. 0n July 20, 2025 Airman Brayden Lovan, a U.S. Air Force security team member in Cheyenne, WY, was killed on duty when a MK 18 Sig (the Military variant of the P320 which has an external safety) discharged in a holster while it was supposedly sitting unattended. This led to the command pulling all Mk 18’s for safety reasons and made nationwide news. For Sig Sauer the sky was falling, the sky was falling.
Well, the tables turned on Friday, August 08, 2025, when the Air Force Times, a very good independent newspaper which reports on all things Air Force, splashed the story an Air Force airman has been arrested in the shooting death of Airman Brayden Lovan.
Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI), the Air Force equivalent of the Navy/Marine Corps NCIS) arrested an unnamed airman who has been charged with/accused of making a false official statement, obstruction of justice and involuntary manslaughter.
Breaking that down, OSI Special Agents are federal agents, and lying to them is a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and U.S. Code, so the suspect was apparently interviewed as part of the death investigation and not only lied, OSI believes they can prove the lie.
Next, obstruction of justice is a charge thrown in when someone actively impedes an official investigation or hides evidence. Lastly, involuntary manslaughter under UCMJ Article119 involves: “(a) That a certain named or described person is dead; (b) That the death resulted from the act or omission of the accused; (c) That the killing was unlawful; and (d) That this act or omission of the accused constituted culpable negligence, or occurred while the accused was perpetrating or attempting to perpetrate an offense directly affecting the person other than burglary, sodomy, rape, robbery, or aggravated arson.”
So we can quite reasonably believe the original story of the unattended MK 18 going off and killing Airman Brayden Lovan is hogwash. All suspects are presumed innocent until convicted as they say, but pretty certain we know how that trial is going to come out. The P320/MK 18 lives to fight another day and remains on duty with all branches of the U.S. military.
Disclaimer: I’ve never owned a Sig Sauer product. But, as with most issues in life, wouldn’t it be much better to wait for a collection of facts before jabber-jaws do their utmost to ruin the reputation of a person, profession or product? Thanks for the update. Now, will they wait for the trial’s outcome?
It’s a public relations nightmare for Sig. The court of internet public condemnation has already reached their verdict unfortunately.
P.S. You really should get some Sigs… you know… for variety!
Too late. The damage has been done. The company fought the war using poor tactics and strategy.
Very well presented. Every quote was awesome and thanks for sharing the content. Keep sharing and keep motivating others.