City Of Chicago Sues Glock Over ‘Glock Switch’ Mechanism

The auto sear allows a Glock handgun to fire up to 1,200 rounds per minute, a rate that is higher than some military weapons.

The City of Chicago is suing the gun manufacturer Glock, claiming that it is ignoring a known exploitation of its technology that is used to turn its handguns into fully automatic weapons.

The lawsuit claims that auto sears or “Glock switches” allow “anyone with $20-$25 to spare and a desire to circumvent long-standing federal and state prohibitions on possessing fully automatic machine guns” as long as they have a few minutes and access to a screwdriver.

As The Hill reports, the lawsuit claims that the results of the inaction of the gun manufacturer are draining the city’s resources.

“Glock has made the business decision to continue profiting from the sales of its easily modifiable guns to the civilian market,” the lawsuit stated. “The result endangers the health and safety of Chicagoans and increases and exacerbates the injuries and death from gun violence — draining the City’s public health, safety, investigative, and judicial resources and causing some City residents to fear using public streets, parks, schools, and transportation.”

The auto sear allows a Glock handgun to fire up to 1,200 rounds per minute, a rate that is higher than some military weapons. As the Associated Press reported, the complaint, filed on March 19, is the first filed using the State of Illinois’s new Firearms Industry Responsibility Act.

That piece of policy, first passed in 2023, is designed to hold gun manufacturers accountable for their roles in encouraging behavior that presents a danger to the public.

Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a press release that his office is seeking to collaborate with other groups who want to hold Glock accountable. “The City of Chicago is encountering a deadly new frontier in the gun violence plaguing our communities because of the increase of fully automatic Glocks on our streets.”

Johnson continued, “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.”

The City of Chicago’s lawsuit follows a settlement involving the families of victims of the Sandy Hook tragedy in 2022. As BLACK ENTERPRISE previously reported, the lawsuit filed by the families resulted in a $73 million judgment against Remington, and they closed one of their manufacturing plants amid financial struggles.

More states have passed similar laws, as PBS Newshour reported in 2023. California, New York, Delaware, and New Jersey at the time already had laws in the books that rolled back the immunity that gun manufacturers had. Colorado, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Virginia, Washington, New Mexico, and Maryland were all considering similar laws. Additionally, 18 states have since rejected the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.

Everytown Research and Policy has called for the repeal of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act and maintains on its website that the law presents an inability to hold gun manufacturers accountable for their part in gun violence. Everytown has also joined the City of Chicago in its lawsuit.

According to the Everytown Research and Policy website, “An extraordinary law has provided gun manufacturers and sellers who skirt the law with a unique, broad immunity from legal accountability. The PLCAA gives gun industry members a shield from the lawsuits that are most often used in the United States to hold businesses accountable for products or practices that harm people.”

They added, “PLCAA blocks legal responsibility for gun manufacturers that have failed to innovate and make guns safer and for manufacturers, distributors and dealers with irresponsible, reckless and negligent sales practices that contribute to the flood of illegal firearms in our communities.”