The Florida House has passed legislation to provide immunity for gun manufacturers in “certain products liability actions” based on “any design feature, functionality, safety mechanism, or performance standard that is not required by federal law.”
The bill (HB 1551) was written to protect gun manufacturer Sig Sauer, which has been the subject of numerous lawsuits alleging its P320 pistols can fire without an intentional trigger pull.
The measure is not guaranteed to make it to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk. The Senate version (SB 1748), sponsored by Sen. Jay Trumbull, R-Panama City, has only passed in one of its three assigned committees. The session is scheduled to end a week from Friday.
The 75-29 vote in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Thursday comes as Sig Sauer has spent more than $500,000 in contributions to more than 30 Republicans before the legislative session started, including $50,000 each to House Speaker Daniel Perez, Senate President Ben Albritton, and Rep. Wyman Duggan, R- Jacksonville, the House bill sponsor, as reported by Seeking Rents reporter Jason Garcia.
Jacksonville Republican Rep. Wyman Duggan on the floor of the House on March 5, 2026. (Photo by Mitch Perry)
“We have a recent but robust practice of tort reform efforts in this chamber over the last four years, and I see this legislation as another step in that process,” Duggan said when asked by Democratic House Leader Fentrice Driskell what he considered the “compelling policy reason” for his bill.
Among the law enforcement agencies that have stopped using the Sig Sauer P320 is the Indian River County Sheriff’s Department, after deputy Zachary Seldes was severely injured when his P320 discharged without the trigger being pulled. He has filed a lawsuit against the company.
Rep. Robin Bartleman, D-Weston, noted similar misfires with the Sig Sauer P320 have taken place at several law enforcement agencies across Florida in recent years.
“If this law was in place at the time of their injuries, the law enforcement officers and the gun owners of America would have been subject to life threatening injuries, long-term hospitalizations, disability, and more, and would have had no recourse against the company that manufactured the gun who injured them,” she said. “Why are we doing this?”
Rep. Kevin Chambliss, D-Homestead, said the Florida Legislature historically takes pride in standing up for law enforcement, and that he didn’t understand why that wasn’t the case in this situation.
“I get it. There are technical issues about whether, ‘Is it the safety or — here’s my question. Does it put law enforcement officers in danger, yes or no? What I am telling you, ladies and gentlemen, is that this bill does.”
Driskell said the bill shielded gun manufacturers from accountability when people are killed or injured by intentional design choices. “That’s not tort reform. That’s a manufacturer get-out-of-jail-free card, written into Florida statute,” she said.
The bill would apply to causes of action filed after its effective date, upon being signed into law. That’s important because it would mean Seldes would be able to continue his lawsuit against Sig Sauer.
Speaking to reporters following a House committee meeting last month, Seldes’ boss, Sheriff Eric Flowers, said it was “scary to me as a law enforcement leader that there are guns going off without manipulation.
“And so, without a trigger press, without some sort of something happening. I don’t know what it is. But I know it’s something that needs to be addressed and I want to make sure here today to just preserve Zach’s rights to at least take it to court and to be heard, so that maybe somebody in the future won’t get hurt as a result of this.”
Gun safety groups condemned the vote.
“Today, the Florida House majority declared itself for sale to the highest bidder — proving that for a big enough check, they will look the other way as defective guns maim or kill our state’s law enforcement and gun owners,” said GIFFORDS Florida State Director Samantha Barrios. “This bill passed after Sig Sauer made sudden donations of more than $500,000 to Republican lawmakers, and that should horrify Floridians. Your representatives’ votes have been bought, and it’s only a matter of time before yet another defective Sig Sauer pistol injures another Florida law enforcement officer or gun owner. Despite this, our Republican leaders have chosen to remove victims’ ability to seek accountability in the courts, and have opted instead to protect Sig Sauer’s bottom line.”
The final vote was not cast strictly along party lines. Democrats Bruce Antone and Yvonne Hinson joined the majority of Republicans in supporting the bill, while three Republicans — Peggy Seidman-Gossett, Susan Plasencia, and Danny Alvarez — voted against it.
Alvarez also serves as general counsel to the Tampa Police Benevolent Association, and wrote an op-ed last summer calling on all Florida law agencies to remove the P320 from service.