{"id":111959,"date":"2026-01-25T16:46:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T16:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/111959\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T16:46:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T16:46:13","slug":"alex-prettis-sig-p320-may-have-gone-off-accidentally-experts-suggest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/111959\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Pretti’s Sig P320 may have gone off accidentally, experts suggest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Armed Minneapolis anti-ICE protester Alex Pretti was carrying a popular handgun that has a history of unintentionally firing \u2014 leading some gun experts to suggest that\u00a0the gun might have accidentally discharged<\/a>\u00a0after a Border Patrol agent grabbed it from him, causing another agent to open fire, killing him Saturday.<\/p>\n

Pretti<\/a>, 37, an ICU nurse angry at President Trump\u2019s crackdown on illegal immigration in Minnesota, was carrying a loaded Sig Sauer P320 9mm pistol when he allegedly tried to stop federal agents from arresting a woman on the street.<\/p>\n

Cops said he had a permit to legally carry the gun.<\/p>\n

Video from the scene shows one federal agent yelling \u201cgun\u201d and grabbing the weapon from Pretti. The agent is seen walking away with the weapon in his hand, when another agent suddenly stands up and opens fire multiple times \u2014 killing the Minnesota nurse.<\/p>\n

Anti-ICE protester Alex Pretti was carrying an allegedly defective handgun when he was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent. AP<\/p>\n

Rob Dobar, a lawyer for the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, said he believes that\u00a0Pretti\u2019s gun went off after the agent grabbed it<\/a>, leading the other agent to open fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe it\u2019s highly likely the first shot was a negligent discharge from the agent in the grey jacket after he removed the Sig P320 from Pretti\u2019s holster while exiting the scene,\u201d Dobar said on X.<\/p>\n

The P320 model is widely carried by armed civilians and US law enforcement, including ICE \u2014 but has been the subject of more than 100 allegations that it has a defect that allows it to fire \u201cuncommanded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Authorities shared a picture of Pretti\u2019s loaded handgun in the wake of Saturday\u2019s shooting, showing a fully loaded magazine.<\/p>\n

The weapon appears to be a high-end custom variant, a P320 AXG Combat, which comes with three 21-round magazines. The gun retails for $1,100 to $1,300.<\/p>\n

Follow The Post\u2019s coverage of the shooting of a 37-year-old anti-ICE protester in Minneapolis<\/p>\n

President Trump shared a picture of the gun\u00a0on his Truth Social<\/a>, questioning why Pretti had attended a protest carrying a loaded weapon, and speculating as to whether local police were told to stay away from the scene by Democrats such as Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the gunman\u2019s gun, loaded (with two additional full magazines!), and ready to go \u2013 What is that all about? Where are the local Police? Why weren\u2019t they allowed to protect ICE Officers? The Mayor and the Governor called them off?\u201d the President wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is stated that many of these Police were not allowed to do their job, that ICE had to protect themselves \u2014 Not an easy thing to do!\u201d Trump added.<\/p>\n

Although Pretti had a permit to legally carry a firearm, according to Minneapolis Police, the Department of Homeland Security has previously claimed it is \u201cunlawful\u201d for protesters or observers to bring guns to demonstrations.<\/p>\n

In November 2021, a Philadelphia jury awarded US Army veteran George Abrahams $11 million after his holstered pistol went off while he was going down the stairs, causing permanent leg injuries.<\/p>\n

The Sig Sauer P320 handgun Pretti was carrying at the time of Saturday\u2019s shooting. Minneapolis Police<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been asking Sig for over three years now to recall this gun, to fix it, and frankly to use the same type of safeties that other manufacturers are using that Sig Sauer is not,\u201d the plaintiff\u2019s lawyer, Robert W. Zimmerman, said at the time of the verdict.<\/p>\n

New Hampshire-based manufacturer Sig Sauer defended the P320, describing it as \u201camong the most tested, proven, and successful handguns in recent history,\u201d in a\u00a0statement on its website<\/a>\u00a0at the time.<\/p>\n

In April 2025, Sig Sauer executive Bobby Cox successfully lobbied in the New Hampshire State House for a new law shielding the arms manufacturer from liability lawsuits over its P320 pistol.<\/p>\n

Pretti was a nurse at a VA hospital in Minneapolis. Facebook \/ Fight for a Union<\/p>\n

Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed the bill in May 2025, despite objections from some Democrats, who said that Sig Sauer should be forced to defend its claims in court.<\/p>\n

Sig said it has fixed the issue and\u00a0noted that accidental discharges are exceedingly rare, considering\u00a0the millions of pistols produced.<\/p>\n

In 2017, the company brought in a \u201cVoluntary Upgrade Program,\u201d allowing owners to change their handguns for updated models designed to solve safety concerns regarding so-called drop-firing, where the gun discharged when dropped at a specific angle.<\/p>\n

Additionally, in 2020, a consumer-focused class action known as the \u201cHartley class action settlement\u201d was completed.<\/p>\n

It applied to all owners of Sig Sauer P320s manufactured before Aug. 8, 2017, who experienced \u201cCartridge Failure Events,\u201d or internal mechanical failures when firing.<\/p>\n

The settlement provided refunds for previous repair costs, a lifetime warranty against cartridge failures, and reinforced the Voluntary Upgrade Program.Controversially, it did not cover compensation for personal injuries from gunshot wounds or address the \u201cunintentional discharge\u201d claims that had been at the center of various lawsuits.<\/p>\n

Sig Sauer didn\u2019t respond immediately to requests for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Armed Minneapolis anti-ICE protester Alex Pretti was carrying a popular handgun that has a history of unintentionally firing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2300,4542,2035,4801,43894,5800,9,11,10,4648,24060,58],"class_list":["post-111959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-department-of-homeland-security","tag-guns","tag-ice","tag-minneapolis","tag-minneapolis-ice-shooting-2026","tag-minnesota","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-protests","tag-us-border","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}