The city of Chicago and the gun safety group Everytown Law filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Glock, Inc., alleging the gunmaker "unreasonably endangers Chicagoans by manufacturing and selling … semiautomatic pistols that can easily be converted to illegal machine guns."
"Glock has known for years that its pistols are uniquely susceptible to being converted to illegal machine guns," said Eric Tirschwell, executive director of Everytown Law.
The lawsuit seeks damages for harm caused to Chicago and asks for a court order to stop sales of Glock handguns.
"Other popular handguns from major manufacturers are designed in a way that does not allow this easy modification in a matter of minutes using no more than a screwdriver and inserting a piece that's about the size of a Lego," said Tirschwell.
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On Monday, Chicago Police recovered a gun with a Glock Switch.
The lawsuit says "law enforcement personnel in Chicago have recovered over 1,100 Glocks that have been converted into illegal machine guns in the last two years alone in connection with a wide variety of crimes."
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"People are seeing things they've never seen before. From the amount of gunfire that comes from a handheld machine gun. It’s a problem for citizens around the city. It’s a problem for law enforcement," said Garien Gatewood, deputy mayor of Community Safety for Chicago.
The lawsuit is the first to use Illinois' new Firearms Industry Responsibility Act signed into law last year to hold gun companies accountable.
The Illinois State Rifle Association says this lawsuit should be dismissed.
"If Glock modifies their firearm, somebody will just find another way to modify it," said Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association. "You have to punish these people for converting these firearms. The punishment for making it and getting caught with a fully automatic firearm is severe and I don’t see any of that happening in the city of Chicago."
NBC Chicago reached out to Glock about the lawsuit, but we have yet to hear back.
