While stories circulated about a fatality from a holstered pistol, sitting by itself on a table or shelf, the involved investigatory agencies set to work to find out why a member of service in the US Air Force died of a gunshot injury on an Air Force base. 

As is traditional, a lot of people knew a lot of things and investigation reveals something else happened. I won’t go into the JFK assassination – or the various others – along with other conspiracy fantasies. This thing was handled quickly and, it seems, with a solid result. 

The Air Force Times reported that “… the unidentified arrested person (another airman) is accused of making a false official statement, obstruction of justice and involuntary manslaughter.” The current chatter is that there was horseplay involved and it was likely a Rule 2 and Rule 3 issue … along with forgetting the primary rule: All Guns Are Always Loaded.

So it wasn’t the gun – this time. And that’s not the huge surprise that many think it is. Another social media personality reproduced the “pull the trigger part way then move the slide” test that was considered a likelihood for the US service pistol issue … ignoring the fact that about any striker-fired gun will “fail” the same “test.”

Back to square one. Are there issues or are there not? Only your armorer knows for sure.

The Air Force Times concluded the story this way: 

“The M18, along with the M17, is a derivative of Sig Sauer’s P320 that the Air Force and Army have used. However, the P320 pistol has faced allegations that it is prone to going off accidentally without the trigger being pulled. Sig Sauer has strongly denied those allegations and said its pistols do not discharge unless the trigger is pulled.”

Since then, I’ve seen social media proclaiming that DoD and the manufacturer were colluding to railroad the defendant – because there’s a motive. 

I ain’t buying that one. 

Meanwhile the weekend flurry of rumor du jour was that GLOCK will cease supplying pistols to the consumer market.

No. That’s not what was said. It’s all the COA models, the guns with unique optics mounting cut that fits the Aimpoint COA and only the Aimpoint COA – which is only sold on those GLOCK pistols cut for it. 

Also, it’s not for, per se, military contracts per the original statement first seen (by me) from GT Distributors; the statement was (un)clear enough:

“Due to recent events and Federal and Law Enforcement contracts, Glock is shifting its focus to fulfilling law enforcement agency contracts through law enforcement distribution … Currently, we will no longer be accepting any new blue label IOP or commercial orders …”

There are, after all, federal contracts and, while all “military” is federal, not all federal is military. 

Or maybe not.

As to GLOCK pistols for the commercial market, GT was clear about that: “Non-COA guns are not impacted by this (sic).” I think that means that we don’t get the COA guns.

As to why, it’s that the GLOCK-Aimpoint collaboration was far more successful than at first expected, at least by Aimpoint. The chatter is that Aimpoint can’t keep up with demand.

The combination of gun and glass is good enough that I believe that story.

As to the P320/M17-M18 pistol line, I don’t have a conclusion. I’m no engineer. By trade, I’m a communicator. That’s treacherous enough without dallying into mechanical devices and what causes their function or non-function.

I’m reminded of agencies switching from revolvers to traditional double-action, hammer-fired guns, a process in which I had some involvement. Another experience in transitions came to me after 17 years, when our agency switched from 3rd Generation S&W Autos to modern striker fired autos.

We, thankfully, did fine. Larger agencies had issues, like a large urban department that switched from M92 Berettas to S&W M&P9 pistols. They experienced a number of accidents, well over fifty. For an agency of 9-or-10,000, that’s not a huge number, but it was significant for those who shot themselves.

All those issues involved people mishandling the guns and S&W missed the negative press that SIG has gotten. 

Is the SIG service pistol absolved of all blame in every single case? That would be the manufacturer’s position. That’s not my call to make. As to the tragic events on the Air Force base, the current story was always the more likely one. 

Like this story from Greenville County, South Carolina, where sheriff’s deputies were shot in a training exercise. The story is that SWAT deputies went to get “blanks” -- 12-gauge ammo that ended up being breaching rounds, stored in a baggy in a desk drawer for an interactive role play, force-on-force exercise.

This was not the best chain-of-custody example. Using blanks for such purposes is a non-starter in any event. This wasn’t a gun issue but a user issue.

And why are there so many rumors a-flying in gun world? 

Why not? There always has been.

— Rich Grassi