The city of Chicago is suing Austrian-based firearms manufacturer Glock, claiming it willfully ignored design flaws in its handguns that can easily turn them into automatic weapons.
City attorneys alleged there has been a spike in the use of "auto sears" or "switches" — quarter-sized devices affixed to Glock pistols that allow for multiple rounds to be fired with one trigger pull — exacerbating the city's gun-violence problems, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The complaint, filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court, accuses Glock of violating the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Business Practices Act, as well as the Chicago municipal code, by selling the modifiable guns to civilians who don't work in law enforcement.
"Anyone with $20-$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," the complaint stated, according to the Tribune.
Chicago police officers have recovered more than 1,100 Glock pistols outfitted with the auto sear in the last two years, according to the complaint, but only after the guns were used in scores of shootings and other violent crimes, the Tribune reported.
"While Chicago has long struggled with an epidemic of gun violence, it is unquestionable that the ease of modification of Glocks and the resulting prevalence of Modified Glocks have made the situation worse," the complaint stated, according to the Tribune. "Criminals armed with Modified Glocks are emboldened because of their military-grade firepower, and they kill and injure more people, increasing the terror felt by ordinary Chicagoans."
In addition to unspecified monetary damages, the city wants Glock to be barred from selling "pistols that can easily be converted to fully automatic to Chicago nonlaw-enforcement consumers via its website and Illinois gun stores that serve the Chicago market."
The first hearing is scheduled for mid-July, the Tribune reported, citing court records.
Newsmax reached out to Glock's U.S. headquarters in Georgia for comment.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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