USA

Ron Cohen, Sig Sauer CEO

SIG Sauer is a brand name used by several sister companies based in Germany, Switzerland and the USA, all owned by the German holding company L&O Holding. Between them the companies manufacturer a wide-range of different small arms, including pistols, assault rifles and submachine guns, as well as a wide range of accessories and equipment such as silencers, sights and mounts. Sig Sauer weapons have been positively identified in West Papua, used by Intel, Kopassus, Yonif and Denjaka forces among others. Relevant weapons are shown on the German entry for this company, here.

In 2019, CEOs at the company received heavy fines and suspended prison sentences following their involvement in illegal shipments of 38,000 pistols to Colombia. The US branch of the company was unable to fulfil the order and turned to the German company for help, despite the fact this would mean breaking Germany’s strict licensing laws. Cohen was arrested but released and continues to sell guns to Indonesia and other places where military repression is well evidenced.

Both Sig Sauer, Inc. and Sig Sauer, GmbH are owned by the same holding company, L&O Holdings. L&O also owns Swiss Arms AG, which continues to produce “Sig” rifles, the Sig 550-series of rifles that were originally designed by SIG AG. Sig Sauer weapons are now manufactured by the United States branch, based at Newington, New Hampshire, United States. The shift of weapons manufacturing to the US chapter of the company has meant that gun production can continue, without any oversight by the German authorities. Almost 500 000 thousand guns are manufactured at this weapons factory. Company revenue company is $500 million per year. The American CEO, Ron Cohen, receives an annual salary of $1.5 million.