Around lunchtime on Feb. 8, 2023, inside an administrative office at Fort Eustis in Virginia, a sergeant with the Army’s 221st Military Police Detachment stood chatting with his supervisor.

Another soldier on his way to an office refrigerator tried to squeeze past the sergeant in a narrow hallway. That’s when their gun holsters made contact.

“All I remember was the clanking” of the two holsters, the sergeant would later tell an Army investigator, according to a military report, “and [the] gun shot.”

A bullet from the sergeant’s own gun ripped through his foot, leading to surgery and six months of rehabilitation. Photos included in the Army’s report appear to show a bloodstained carpet.

“Don’t feel safe around those weapons anymore,” the sergeant later told investigators.

The gun that wounded the sergeant is manufactured by Sig Sauer, a New Hampshire-based firearms company that has faced dozens of lawsuits claiming its model P320 pistol has a design or manufacturing flaw that leaves it susceptible to these types of incidents: people being shot by their own gun, without a trigger pull.

Sig Sauer maintains that the P320 — which is now the standard-issue pistol for U.S. soldiers across the globe — is safe. The company noted in a statement to NHPR that it has prevailed in 13 legal cases in which a judge or jury ruled they weren’t liable for any injuries, though a federal jury in Georgia last week awarded a gunowner $2.3 million in damages after his P320 discharged while still holstered, leaving him with a serious leg injury.

The shooting at Fort Eustis is one of nine separate incidents involving the U.S. military detailed in documents obtained by New Hampshire Public Radio that echo the claims made in many of the lawsuits against Sig Sauer from individual gun owners and police officers who say their pistols fired without a trigger pull.

“I’m under a lot of pain on my foot, having bad dreams, don’t feel safe around those weapons anymore.”

The Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps incident reports, which were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, detail unintentional shootings between September 2020 and June 2023. This is believed to be the first time these unintentional firings have been publicly reported since Sig Sauer won a lucrative contract to supply the Army with new pistols for service members in 2017.

Soldiers at U.S. military facilities in Missouri, Virginia, Louisiana, and Amman, Jordan were seriously injured when their Sig Sauer gun unintentionally discharged, according to Army records. Though the incident reports are heavily redacted, in at least two of the six shootings involving Army personnel, witnesses stated that the soldier did not have their hand on or near the trigger when the gun discharged. Two other soldiers were shot by their own guns during training exercises.

A report released by the Marine Corps details an unintentional shooting inside a guard booth in Okinawa, Japan. Investigators reviewed surveillance footage and determined that the security guard did not mishandle the weapon, and that it fired despite the gun’s safety being in place. (NHPR has requested but has not yet been provided with a copy of the surveillance footage.)

The Army, for its part, denies the guns involved in these incidents displayed any “material flaws.” An Army spokesperson said the Sig Sauer guns were extensively tested and function well.

“The pistol remains in service with all the services at this time without restrictions,” the spokesperson said.

The military initially told NHPR that it worked with specialists from Sig Sauer to review these incidents, and that investigative teams found no reason for concern. But when asked for details about what role the company played in these investigations, an Army spokesperson reversed course and said that representatives from Sig Sauer were not, in fact, part of any military review.

In a statement, Sig Sauer said that “claims that the P320 is capable of firing without a trigger pull are without merit,” and that the gun remains trusted by armed forces around the world. NHPR provided Sig Sauer with copies of the nine reports, but the gunmaker did not address questions about the individual incidents.

The P320, from civilian model to military staple

Sig Sauer’s P320 model was first released in 2014 and went on to become one of the most popular guns in America, selling more than 2.5 million units, according to the company.

In promotional materials, the company touts a commitment to “safety without compromise.”

In 2017, the Department of Defense selected the P320 as its standard sidearm for soldiers, following a multi-year competition to replace the Beretta M9, which had been in use by the military since 1985. The military calls the gun the M17, as well as the M18, a compact version of the pistol.

The deal, valued at up to $580 million, called for Sig Sauer to provide weapons, ammunition and parts for 10 years. Following the Army’s selection of Sig Sauer, in 2018 the Marine Corps announced it would also issue the M18 to all soldiers who carry pistols. The Navy and Air Force have since followed suit.

To date, Sig Sauer has delivered nearly half a million pistols across all branches of the U.S. military.

But concerns about the gun’s safety emerged during early testing by the military. According to a Department of Defense report from 2018, military officials identified problems with the gun, including the risk of “drop fire” in which the weapon could go off without a trigger pull if dropped at certain angles. Records show that Sig Sauer worked with the military to modify the weapon after these findings, including changes to the gun’s trigger mechanism.

The company eventually outfitted the civilian version of the P320 with a new trigger as well, and offered owners of older models the ability to voluntarily return their guns for new components. Sig Sauer has maintained that the P320 is safe from dropfire, even with the older components.

Meanwhile, dozens of lawsuits have been filed against Sig Sauer over the P320, rooted in concerns about the gun’s safety. That includes an ongoing claim in the federal court in New Hampshire in which 20 victims allege their P320 discharged without a trigger pull under a variety of circumstances.

“We’re seeing people who are in law enforcement or private citizens, who are responsible gun owners, who ultimately are experiencing life changing injuries when their guns are firing without their intent,” said Bob Zimmerman, an attorney involved in dozens of lawsuits involving Sig Sauer.

Sig Sauer settled out of court with at least two of the earliest known plaintiffs — both law enforcement officers — in 2018 and 2019. Both officers were injured when their department-issued P320s allegedly discharged. But the company has strenuously defended itself in other legal proceedings, denying the weapon poses a risk.

In a statement to NHPR, a Sig Sauer spokesperson listed 13 court cases that were dismissed or where a jury found there wasn’t enough evidence to conclude the gunmaker was liable for injuries caused by its gun unintentionally firing.

Last week, however, a jury awarded damages to someone who claimed they were injured by their P320. Robert Lang, a lifelong firearms enthusiast who had previously “spent hundreds of hours behind the trigger,” according to court paperwork, was awarded $2.3 million in damages after alleging he was injured when his Sig Sauer P320 fired a bullet as he went to remove the gun from the holster without ever touching the trigger.

Zimmerman, who represented Lang in that case, said he expects more injuries among civilians and police officers who carry the P320.

“This isn’t an instance where it’s happened once or twice,” he said. “It is happening time and time again.”

In response to questions from NHPR, the Army said it is not conducting an investigation into the pistols at this time. The Army noted that it found “no reason to suspect the weapon was the root cause” of the six unintentional discharges it has disclosed publicly.

The gun “underwent rigorous military testing before being selected for U. S. service members,” the Army spokesperson added.