BREAKING: FN was the other Finalist in the ICE Service Pistol Competition
Last week we reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), adopted the SIG P320C as their next service handgun.
By law public officials must allow companies to bid on government contracts, but rumors circulated that ICE had deliberately written the solicitation request so that they could stick with SIG pistols after they retired their SIG P229 DAK pistols. Later rumors suggested that the entry from S&W was in fact going to win.
I recently spoke to a very credible source who told me that in fact ICE had narrowed down the selection to SIG and a pistol from FN.
I was not told what FN pistol was submitted to ICE for consideration, other than it was a variant tailored specifically to their requirements. It will be interesting to see if any innovations developed for this competition trickles down to their consumer.
This past year I have been impressed with FN’s marketing. They dropped the “USA” post-fix, no longer trying to distance themselves from their heritage, and have adopted the slogan “The World’s Most Battle-Proven Firearms”, embracing their military history to such an extent they are now selling a semi-automatic FN 249 variant to consumers! It’s a strong claim, but considering they have made the Browning Hi-Power, FN FAL, FN Minimi / M249, FN MAG / FN240 and Browning M2 it is a credible claim for a single manufacturer.