
In the U.S., firearms are one of the few products which are exempt from federal consumer product safety regulations. This exemption derives from the Consumer Product Safety Act of 1972 which explicitly prevents the Consumer Product Safety Commission from regulating firearms and ammunition. As a direct result, there remains no federal agency responsible for ensuring the safety of firearms prior to firearms being sold to consumers. This legislative policy can be disasterous, as with the case of the SIG Sauer P320 pistol, a firearm which is prone to firing without the trigger having been pulled. The SIG Sauer P320 firearm is effectively always engaged within a cocked position, with the weapon ready to fire even when not intended by the end user (e.g. holstered and on the hip of the end user etc.). The SIG Sauer P320 is a striker fired firearm and does not have a manual safety by default. Early versions of the design had issues in which the internal components (e.g. trigger, sear, striker etc.) could inadvertently engage, causing an unintentional discharge. This has resulted in law enforcement and civilians accidentally harming themselves and others with accidental misfires. As of 2016, 80 people have been harmed by this particular firearm. In 2017, the manufacturer SIG Sauer Inc. offered a voluntary upgrade program, not a recall but rather an offer to modify the design of this firearm to improve safety features, including adjustments to the trigger, sear, and striker mechanisms
