A headline spread fast in late July: a U.S. airman at F.E. Warren Air Force Base died because a Sig Sauer M18 “went off on its own.”
It sounded like the final nail in a long-running controversy.
But that version wasn’t true.
CBS News reports that 21-year-old Airman Brayden Lovan of the 90th Security Forces Squadron died after another airman, Marcus White-Allen, pointed a pistol at Lovan’s chest “in a joking manner.” Then the gun fired. CBS credits newly released Air Force details for correcting the record.
That one bad act sparked a month-long pause of M18 pistols at nuclear sites under Air Force Global Strike Command. CBS notes the pause was lifted in late August once officials determined the M18 was safe to carry.
Other military branches never stopped using the pistol.
What Investigators Say Happened
According to CBS News, immediately after the shot, White-Allen urged two fellow airmen to lie. The instruction was blunt: tell responders the gun “went off” because a duty belt hit the desk, or say the “holster went off.”
Airmen Sarbjot Badesha and Matthew Rodriguez later pleaded guilty to making false official statements, CBS reports. Sentences included short confinements, base restriction, forfeitures of pay, and administrative demotions.
Those early lies shaped the first wave of coverage.
They also triggered the command-wide gun pause, inspections, and a fresh wave of public doubt.
CBS further reports that White-Allen was arrested on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter and making a false statement. Then, on October 8, he was found dead on base. The Air Force has not disclosed details; the investigation continues.
William Kirk: The Narrative Was “Completely False”
Attorney William Kirk, president of Washington Gun Law, told viewers the July storyline was accepted too quickly. In his video, he says the claim that Lovan was killed by an “unintentional discharge” of his own service pistol has now proven “absolutely and completely false.”
Kirk identifies the key players by name and role. Lovan is the victim. White-Allen is the alleged shooter. Badesha and Rodriguez, the witnesses who lied, have already been sentenced for false statements.
Kirk also highlights the massive ripple effect.
He reminds viewers that beyond the Air Force pause, many police agencies followed suit or reconsidered the platform – all based on a version of events that did not match the facts later released.
His point is simple. If you point any firearm at a human and press the trigger, the brand isn’t the story. Negligent handling is.
Jared Yanis: The Update Changes Everything
Jared Yanis of Guns & Gadgets calls the new details a “big update” to July’s reporting. In his video, he recounts how the first official line said the M18 discharged without input and how that claim led to a safety stand-down at Global Strike Command sites.
Then the facts changed.
Yanis says investigators now allege White-Allen pointed the pistol at Lovan “as a joke,” fired, and pushed others to lie.
He walks through the guilty pleas and punishments for Badesha and Rodriguez, mirroring the CBS reporting on those outcomes.
He also raises the questions hanging over White-Allen’s death. Was it suicide? Was it foul play? The coroner has not publicly said. Yanis stresses that uncertainty remains on that point, and he plans to follow the official findings when they are released.
His bottom line mirrors Kirk’s: the weapon didn’t decide to fire; a person did.
Colion Noir: How A Lie Became Fuel
Colion Noir frames the incident as a case study in how bad information spreads faster than the truth. In his video, he recounts the blast radius of that first headline: the M18 “went off by itself” and killed an airman.
He notes how quickly gun-control advocates seized on that claim. He also admits that even inside the gun community, many feared the worst for Sig Sauer.
Then comes the turn. Noir cites the same core facts reported by CBS and others: White-Allen pointed the gun, pulled the trigger, and then told others to lie.
Global Strike Command paused the pistol for a month but later lifted the suspension after confirming the M18 was safe.
For Noir, the lesson is bigger than one model. When a false narrative lands, it almost always turns into calls for recalls, lawsuits, and policy. And once policy is built on a lie, it’s hard to unwind.
Why This Case Broke Public Trust
This story matters because it shows how fragile trust can be.
CBS News confirms the Air Force lifted the pause once tests showed the M18 was safe to carry. But a month of doubt had already rolled through nuclear security teams and out into the civilian market.
William Kirk points to that whiplash as proof we should slow down. Wait for evidence. Resist the urge to fill gaps with fear.
Jared Yanis echoes the same caution. He admits early reports – his included – passed on what officials said at the time. Then he updates his audience when the facts change. That’s accountability in real time.
Colion Noir adds the cultural edge. He argues that “the gun went off” is the oldest dodge in the book. It shifts blame from choices to hardware.
It turns a safety failure into a brand problem. And once a narrative hardens, it can drive rules that outlast the truth.
Safety Rules Don’t Care About Headlines
Four rules sit at the heart of gun safety: treat every gun as loaded, never let the muzzle cover anything you’re not willing to destroy, keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on target, and know your target and what’s beyond.
When those rules are followed, “jokes” don’t end in funerals.
That’s why this case cuts so deep. The second rule alone would have saved a life. No court fight. No brand war. No command-wide stand-down.
The rules don’t care about lawsuits, politics, or headlines. They work the same, every time, for everyone.
CBS News also notes a separate fatal shooting weeks later in Cheyenne. Police say Airman First Class Jadan Orr had been drinking with friends, handled an AK-47 in another room, charged it, and fired through a wall, killing a 23-year-old man in the living room.
Different weapon. Different setting. Same warning.
If you ignore the rules, the gun won’t forgive you.
What This Means for Sig Sauer – and For Us
To be clear, this case doesn’t declare every claim about the P320 platform invalid. William Kirk says as much. Questions in other lawsuits may live or die on their own facts.
But this incident at F.E. Warren is not one of those cases.
CBS News, Washington Gun Law, Guns & Gadgets, and Colion Noir all converge on the same point: the fatal shot was the result of human action and a cover-up, not a pistol that “went off by itself.”
For Sig Sauer, that matters. The M18 pause and its lift show how official signals can shape public belief overnight. Damage to a product’s reputation can happen in a single headline; repairing it takes months of dry, careful fact.
For the rest of us, there’s a duty to slow down. Check sources. Treat early narratives like what they are – first drafts.
Why This Story Sticks
This story is fascinating because it reveals a kind of reflex. When guns are involved, we race to blame the item, not the act. It feels clean. It avoids the pain of holding a person accountable for a terrible mistake.
But that shortcut has a cost. As Colion Noir argues, misinformation becomes policy fuel. As Jared Yanis shows, creators have to correct themselves in public when the truth moves. And as William Kirk stresses, a single false narrative can yank entire agencies into sudden reversals.
CBS News grounds the whole arc with names, dates, and punishments. That makes the picture clearer and the lesson harder to dodge.
What’s left is the same message gun owners repeat in quiet places every day: safety habits are culture, not slogans. And culture wins or loses long before any headline lands.
CBS News reports that Brayden Lovan died after Marcus White-Allen pointed a pistol at him “as a joke” and fired, then told others to lie. William Kirk at Washington Gun Law says that original “unintentional discharge” story was completely false and sparked an unnecessary pause of the M18.
Jared Yanis at Guns & Gadgets lays out the new timeline, the guilty pleas, and the unanswered questions around White-Allen’s death.
Colion Noir explains how the lie spread, why the suspension was lifted, and how narratives, not mechanisms, often do the most damage.
Put together, their reporting and commentary tell one story.
This wasn’t a gun that decided to fire.
It was a person who decided to point – and then a system that took too long to correct the record.
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Image Credit: Survival World
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A former park ranger and wildlife conservationist, Lisa’s passion for survival started with her deep connection to nature. Raised on a small farm in northern Wisconsin, she learned how to grow her own food, raise livestock, and live off the land. Lisa is our dedicated Second Amendment news writer and also focuses on homesteading, natural remedies, and survival strategies. Lisa aims to help others live more sustainably and prepare for the unexpected.
