CHICAGO — The city of Chicago filed a lawsuit Tuesday against leading gun manufacturer Glock over a “switch” that allows Glock handguns to operate like machine guns, according the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, argues Glock, Inc. should stop selling its semi-automatic pistols that can easily be modified to achieve fully automatic fire by installing what’s known as an auto sear or “ Glock switch” on the firearm.
Glock does not manufacture the switch, but the company hasn’t done anything to prevent the use of them on its guns, according to the lawsuit.
“Due to the susceptibility of Glock pistols to modification and Glock’s refusal to correct the problem, anyone with $20 [to] $25 to spare and a desire to circumvent long-standing federal and state prohibitions on possessing fully automatic machine guns can do so by buying an auto sear and affixing it to a Glock pistol,” according to the lawsuit.
A Glock switch can be purchased online or manufactured through 3D printers and installed with a screwdriver in minutes using online tutorials, according to the lawsuit.
Once the switch is installed, the person firing the modified handgun can toggle the rate of fire from semi-automatic, meaning one trigger pull per bullet, to a fully automatic firing mode — up to 1,200 rounds per minute, according to the lawsuit.
A total of 1,100 modified Glocks were recovered by the Chicago Police Department between 2021 and 2023, according to the lawsuit.
“Selling firearms that can so easily be converted into automatic weapons makes heinous acts even more deadly, so we are doing everything we can in collaboration with others committed to ending gun violence to hold Glock accountable for putting profits over public safety,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement.
A spokesperson from Glock did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The National Firearms Act, signed into law in 1934, limited ownership of a fully automatic machine gun to people who can qualify for a special federal license. The law was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in response to gangs using fully automatic Thompson submachine guns in gangland violence, including the infamous 1929 St. Valentine’s Day massacre in Chicago.
In the lawsuit, Johnson’s administration argues the auto sear switch circumvents federal law by allowing someone to buy a semi-automatic Glock pistol legally and easily convert it for fully automatic “machine gun” fire.
“Indeed, in stark contrast to Glock pistols, the process of modifying most other popular pistols into machine guns, such as those produced by [gun manufacturers] Smith & Wesson or Sig Sauer, requires time-consuming and difficult engineering well beyond the capability of most civilians,” according to the lawsuit.
This isn’t the first time a Chicago mayor has tried to hold gun manufacturers accountable for gun violence.
Mayor Richard M. Daley tried unsuccessfully over a six-year period to argue gun manufacturers create a “public nuisance” by selling guns that wind up in the hands of criminals charged with gun crimes.
The Illinois Supreme Court dismissed two lawsuits filed by the Daley administration over the issue in 2004, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The city’s lawsuit filed Tuesday is the first to use a new state law, the Firearms Industry Responsibility Act, in an effort to hold Glock accountable, according to a news release from Johnson’s office. Gov. JB Pritzker signed the law into effect last year, allowing parties to sue gun manufacturers for conduct detrimental to public safety.
Chicago Law Department spokesperson Kristen Cabanban said city officials are confident the current lawsuit would stand up in court due to “facts, legal theories and laws that are distinct from previous cases,” including the Firearms Industry Responsibility Act, which did not exist during the Daley administration.
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