TALLAHASSEE — A Florida bill would shield gun manufacturers from some liability — and it’s being pushed by a firearm company whose gun has faced scrutiny over the safety of one of its products.
Sig Sauer, a major gun manufacturer with U.S. headquarters in New Hampshire, has lobbied for HB 1551 amid ongoing court cases related to their pistol, the P320.
The bill would protect a company from liability for excluding certain safety or design features on weapons that are not required by federal law, like an external manual safety.
The P320 has been popular among law enforcement agencies and consumers since its introduction in 2014. But in cases across the country, users say the gun has fired on its own, leaving people with serious injuries.
Those incidents have led to lawsuits, million-dollar payouts and some law enforcement agencies abandoning the P320 for other service weapons.
Bobby Cox, a senior vice president with Sig Sauer, told lawmakers Tuesday that the bill would help with a “national phenomenon that is becoming detrimental to our mission.”
He said the cost of litigation takes away money the manufacturer could otherwise use on research and development for their military and law enforcement firearms.
“This bill codifies that simply because a pistol does not have one of these optional features does not inherently make it defective,” Cox said.
The Florida House Civil Justice and Claims subcommittee approved HB 1551 Tuesday as some Republican members expressed their frustration over what they said was a complicated issue.
Bill sponsor Rep. Wyman Duggan, R-Jacksonville, said the bill would not affect any pending litigation.
That was a concern of Sheriff Eric Flowers from Indian River County, who asked lawmakers to consider what happened in his agency a few years back.
In 2023, an Indian River County sheriff’s deputy, Zachary Seldes, was carrying a holstered P320 when it discharged and lodged a bullet above his ankle, according to court records.
After that, the sheriff’s office switched to a different service weapon.
Seldes is suing Sig Sauer for product liability and negligence, accusing the company of long knowing about the pistol’s ability to fire without anyone pulling the trigger.
Flowers said videos of the P320 firing on its own show a problem that needs to be addressed.
“I don’t see any other gun manufacturers other than Sig coming up to speak on it,” Flowers said of the legislation. “The only discussion that was had was about the Sig P320, so I think it really, it relates directly to that.”
Sig Sauer has asserted the safety of the P320, saying that unintended discharges are due to improper gun handling or issues with holsters.
The company also argues that accidental firings happen with all manufacturers’ pistols.
“P320 discharges are currently front and center in the media due to SIG’s prominent contracts with the US government and various law enforcement agencies,” the company said on a website created to dispute allegations against the P320.
The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office has abandoned its use of the P320. And last year, the Tampa Police Department began evaluating other weapons over concerns with the P320.
“Even with no absolute and definitive finding regarding the concern of unintentional discharge, the mere suggestion that there may be safety concerns regarding a department-issued weapon becomes a priority for our agency,” the department said in July.
Earlier this year, Rep. Danny Alvarez, a Republican from Hillsborough County, penned an opinion piece saying all Florida law enforcement agencies should take the gun out of service.
Alvarez, general counsel for the Tampa Police Benevolent Association, wrote in the opinion piece that he had reviewed a video of a Tampa Police Department officer’s weapon firing while holstered, with “nothing readily appearing to manipulate the trigger.”
“Skeptics will argue that anecdotal information does not equal actionable data,” Alvarez wrote. “I would generally agree, but in matters of officer safety, it becomes a matter of asking what are you willing to risk if you are wrong.”
Alvarez could not be reached for comment on the House legislation.
In the last two months, Sig Sauer has given at least $315,000 to Florida politicians, according to an analysis from the independent newsletter Seeking Rents. That includes $50,000 each to Senate President Ben Albritton, House Speaker Daniel Perez and Duggan.
If signed into law, the bill would allow someone to still challenge a manufacturer if they prove an “actual manufacturing defect,” Duggan said.
Eric Tinstman, an executive committee member with the Florida Justice Association, said “the allegations of why a gun would go off without pulling the trigger are design defects.”
“This gets rid of all of those cases,” he said.
The bill has not moved through any committee in the Senate, where it is sponsored by Rep. Jay Trumbull, R-Panama City.
President Donald Trump recently alluded to some of the concerns around the P320 in comments about U.S. Border Patrol’s shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Trump said Pretti was carrying a “dangerous and unpredictable gun” that “goes off when people don’t know it.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers carried the Sig Sauer pistol until last year.
