BURLINGTON, Wash. — Some Washington police agencies are dumping their handguns after the state academy that trains police officers said the guns were unsafe for recruits. 

Hundreds of those controversial firearms – Sig Sauer model P320 – could end up back in the marketplace potentially for sale to citizens, KING 5 Investigators have learned. 

The P320 has faced accusations by law agencies across the country, including Washington state, that it can fire without a trigger pull. Some officers have been seriously injured in dozens of reported incidents, but none in Washington. 

Several departments that issue the pistol to officers are now transitioning to a new brand of firearm. 

In reviewing public records related to those purchases, KING 5 learned that some agencies are saving money by trading their P320s to the firearms dealer for a discount on the new guns. 

Some of those same agencies have internally investigated shootings where there was concern the P320 fired on its own. 

Potential risks of selling

Records show that the Burlington Police Department, in Skagit County, is receiving approximately $12,000 in credit on the 33 new firearms it needs to re-equip its officers. With those savings, the $28,000 bid from a company called ProForce is $13,000 less than other bidders who did not agree to trade the P320s. 

When Burlington City Council considered the purchase, it was well aware of the risk of selling firearms that the Washington State Criminal Justice Commission says are too dangerous for recruits to train with at its facilities. 

“If someone should buy one of these and there’s a misfire, if we sell them out to individuals, we assume that risk,” said Burlington Mayor Bill Aslett, as he explained the transaction to other city council members in a recorded meeting on March 27.  “By (trading them) with a federally registered firearms dealer, they take the risk of buying them."

The mayor did not respond to requests for an interview from KING 5. 

Council members seemed keenly aware the firearms dealer could sell the used P320 to citizens who may not be aware of the risks. 

'It's all about the money'

“It’s shameful that those weapons are going to be in the homes of civilians, knowing that the gun could go off at any time,” said Craig Jacklyn. 

Jacklyn was a Pennsylvania transit officer on patrol in 2018 when he said his P320 fired in its holster while Jacklyn and his partner were exiting a vehicle in a Philadelphia train tunnel. The bullet shot through the floorboard, narrowly missing a woman who was walking by. 

“It’s crazy. There’s the bullet right there,” Jacklyn can be hearing saying on body cam footage following the incident. Jacklyn was quickly cleared of any wrongdoing, and within a few weeks the entire department had dumped the P320s and switched to Glock handguns. 

In the six years since that incident, Jacklyn said he is surprised police departments still carry the weapon or are willing to allow it to be sold to civilians. 

“Every police department that has that weapon, they know the risk. It’s all about money,” said Jacklyn. 

Internal records show Burlington police had suspicions that a P320 fired in an officer’s holster in 2018. Sergeant Adrian Kuschnereit reported his sidearm fired “completely on its own” while he reached for his locker at the Burlington police station. Photos show the discharge blew apart his holster and tore through his pants pocket. He was not injured. 

Read the internal emails below: 

Sig Sauer investigated and claimed something had entered the holster’s trigger well and pulled the trigger, although it was “unknown was object was wedged against the trigger,” according to the final report. 

Plaintiff’s attorney Jeff Bagnell of Connecticut, who has sued Sig Sauer on behalf of victims who claim they were injured by the gun, calls the company’s findings “a misdirection.”  

“They say this all the time. Every time this happens, they say something got in the holster,” Bagnell said. 

In a written statement, Burlington Police Chief Kevin Turner did not address KING 5’s questions about the re-sale of the P320s but said that the academy’s ban “…has restricted access to essential training for the department’s previously issued firearm. Therefore, due to circumstances outside the department’s control, remaining with the current firearm was not a sustainable option.” 

Read the police chief's full statement here. 

In Kitsap County, the sheriff’s department aims to save $108,000 on the cost of new Shadow Systems firearms by trading in more than 200 P320s to the firearms seller. 

In April of last year, Kitsap sheriff’s investigators also worked with Sig Sauer when a deputy’s holstered P320 fired during a struggle in a Silverdale grocery store. No one was injured. The investigation determined a strand from a loose pair of handcuffs entered the deputy’s holster and pulled the trigger. 

In both the Burlington and Kitsap cases, Sig and the police investigations said the gun did not fire on its own. 

KING 5 has left numerous messages for a comment with Sig Sauer’s media team and has received no reply.

In press releases, the company has said “the P320 cannot fire without the trigger being pulled and is the gold-standard for safety." The New Hampshire company has promoted a list of 13 lawsuits dismissed by courts. 

However, the list does not include two recent verdicts against Sig Sauer that resulted in a $11 million for a Philadelphia victim and $2.3 million for a Georgia man. 

Some support Sig Sauer, some opt for sales

Before the Criminal Justice Training Commission’s ban in February the Vancouver, Wash., police department banned the P320 because of four incidents involving the handgun. The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department banned its deputies from carrying the weapon a couple of years ago because of growing publicity.  

Since the academy’s ban, Marysville and Anacortes police are also transitioning to new weapons.  

“This has a been a safe platform for our staff,” Marysville Chief Erick Scairpon wrote to KING 5 saying there have been no incidents involving his officers.   

Anacortes police say they are taking a significant hit buying 33 new guns. Chief Dave Floyd said within the past few months his department has finished transitioning to the P320, and now they need to be replaced because of the training academy’s ban. Floyd said his department has had no incidents and “we’ve been happy with Sig Sauer. I think it’s a quality handgun.” 

Bellevue and Kirkland police have also expressed support for the P320 and protested the training academy’s ban. Neither has clarified they plan to transition to a new weapon. 

Some communities are well aware of the stakes of putting the P320s back on the market and are doing it anyway. 

In Kitsap County, Sheriff John Gese made the decision to trade in the department’s 200 P320s to save $108,000. A spokesperson said it is the “logical and fiscally responsible thing to do” and “we do not now if they (the firearms dealer) will resell these weapons and whether they may go to the public or other law enforcement agencies.”   

To read the spokesperson's full response to KING 5's questions, view here. 

But in a Feb. 10 meeting before that decision was made, Kitsap County commissioners clearly had concerns.

Calling the P320’s “defective, potentially defective” weapons, Kitsap County Commissioner Oran Root wrung his hands over the prospects of the trade credit.   

“My conscience is killing me here," he said. "What’s $100,000 for somebody’s life?”