Last year, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against a gun accessory manufacturer for “aiding the illegal possession of assault weapons in New York, including the weapon used in the mass shooting in Buffalo in May 2022,” according to a press release from James’ office.
This week, a Democrat leader of a left-wing city announced that it would sue a firearm manufacturer for its supposed role in gun violence.
On Wednesday, the city of Chicago filed a lawsuit against firearm manufacturer Glock for creating pistols that can be modified into illegal machine guns, according to multiple reports.
The complaint was filed in Cook County Circuit Court and uses the state’s Firearms Industry Responsibility Act, which was signed into law last year (via the Associated Press):
The lawsuit alleges Glock unreasonably endangers Chicagoans by manufacturing and selling semiautomatic pistols that can easily be converted to illegal machine guns with an auto sear — a cheap, small device commonly known as a “Glock switch.” The switches are the size of a quarter and are easily purchased illegally online for around $20 or manufactured at home using a 3D printer.
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The lawsuit states police in Chicago have recovered over 1,100 Glocks that have been converted into illegal machine guns in the last two years in connection with homicides, assaults, kidnappings, carjackings and other crimes.
The lawsuit alleges that Glock knows it could fix the problem but refuses to do so and seeks a court order requiring the company to stop selling guns to people in Chicago. It also seeks unspecified damages.
“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,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a press release.
“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,” Johnson said.
Last year, Chicago sued car manufacturers over rampant auto thefts, which the Chicago Sun-Times reported. In the lawsuit, the city alleged that Kia and Hyundai did not install anti-theft technology in many models of the cars and led to an escalation in vehicle thefts and other crimes.
