Chicago suing gunmaker Glock for selling easily convertible weapons [View all]
Source: UK Independent
2 hours ago
The City of Chicago is suing gun manufacturer Glock after law enforcement found more than a thousand firearms which had been converted into illegal machine guns over the past two years. The Austrian company is the most popular manufacturer of handguns in the United States, the city said, but is also facilitating the “proliferation of illegal machine guns on the streets of Chicago”. The lawsuit, filed with the Cook County Circuit Court, alleges that Glock is selling semi-automatic pistols which are easily converted into machine guns using a cheap device known as a “Glock switch”.
“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 statement. “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.”
Chicago Police Department and other agencies have found around 1,100 illegal machine guns linked with crimes including aggravated assaults, kidnappings and homicides. The switches enabling these conversions can be bought for as little as $20, the suit says, or made at home using a 3D printer.
“Right now, anyone in the United States with $20 and a screwdriver can convert their Glock pistol into an illegal machine gun in just a few minutes,” Eric Tirschwell, executive director of Everytown Law, added. “We intend to hold Glock accountable for the unconscionable decision to continue selling its easily modified pistols even though it could fix the problem, knowing that by refusing to do so it is exacerbating gun violence in Chicago.”
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/chicago-glock-lawsuit-machine-gun-switches-b2515320.html
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