LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The loaded handgun officials say Alex Pretti, 37, brought with him to the scene of the fatal Minneapolis shooting early Saturday morning was not an ordinary sidearm. According to reporting, it was a SIG Sauer P320 9mm – a name that might sound awfully familiar to Michigan readers. That’s because the P320 sits in the same family of pistols as the M18, the model Michigan State Police adopted and that Michigan News Source scrutinized extensively in August of last year. They are essentially the same firearm platform at their core. The M18 is a military-specific variant of the commercial SIG Sauer P320.
Different city. Different circumstances. Same gun lineage.
The New York Post reported that the SIG Sauer P320 is widely used by civilians and U.S. law enforcement agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The model has also been the subject of more than 100 complaints alleging it can fire without a trigger pull. Photos of Pretti’s gun show that his appears to be a P320 AXG Combat, a high-end custom variant of the pistol.
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Rob Doar, President of the Minnesota Gun Owners Law Center who also serves as General Counsel for the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus has said, “I see nothing that Mr. Pretti did that was unlawful.” He also posted on X on Saturday night, “After analyzing the videos, I believe it’s highly likely the first shot was a negligent discharge from the agent in the grey jacket after he removed the Sig P320 from Pretti’s holster while exiting the scene.”
A negligent discharge is generally defined as a firing of a firearm caused by carelessness or failure to follow basic safety precautions. According to the New York Post, an unintentionally discharged firearm may have prompted another Border Patrol agent to fire on Pretti.
Years of lawsuits.
The SIG P320 platform has spent years dogged by lawsuits, complaints, and allegations of “uncommanded discharges” – firearms allegedly firing without a trigger pull. Police officers, civilians, and even military-linked incidents have all fueled the controversy. SIG Sauer flatly denies the claims, insisting the gun is safe and only fires when the trigger is pulled. Courts, juries, and injured plaintiffs haven’t always agreed. The lawsuits overwhelmingly center on the P320 platform as a whole. The issues alleged involve potential design flaws leading to discharges from drops, holstering, or movement.
With a civilian-owned SIG P320 now at the center of a nationally scrutinized Minneapolis shooting, long-simmering questions about the firearm are resurfacing. If investigators determine that a round was discharged from Pretti’s gun, it could help clarify the chaotic moments that unfolded – and add new weight to an ongoing debate over a weapon that critics say can fire too easily, or without a deliberate trigger pull.
