Arizona Department of Public Safety replaces malfunctioning weapons

PHOENIX — The Arizona Department of Public Safety has replaced firearms that were found to delay fire or not fire at all after the trigger was pulled.

Trooper Kameron Lee told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Tuesday the department found in August 2018 that its weapons from Fabrique Nationale Herstal, also known as FN, were faulty.

But Lee added that the issue has been fixed and the department is transitioning to a new weapon.

“We found an issue, FN fixed it, no guns we are carrying are faulty,” Lee said in an email.

The FN weapons, according to a Monday report from Arizona Mirror, would fire unexpectedly or, in some cases, not at all.

FN said in a news release that some of its pistols would delay fire after the trigger is pulled “under a very limited and unlikely set of circumstances.”

Lee said the firearms company has replaced all of the strikers in all of the department’s weapons, which “solved the problem we found.”

The striker is the component within the firearm that strikes the casing, dimpling it and igniting the primer within.

Lee said the department is now transitioning to using Glock weapons, which are “an industry standard, primarily because FN is ceasing the manufacture of the weapons we’re carrying.”

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Ashley Flood contributed to this report. 

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