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Glock has been selling reliable, accurate, basically bomb-proof polymer-framed, striker-fired pistols in the United States for over 30 years. In fact, they’ve sold so many of them that you’d be hard pressed to go to a pistol range in a free state and not see at least a handful in use.

That fact, however, hasn’t stopped anti-gun advocates from hating the Glock. And the most dangerous city in the country put that hatred to good use last week by suing the handgun company because criminals have figured out how to convert the semi-auto pistols to fire full auto.

“A hundred years ago, the Thompson submachine gun, also known as the Tommy gun, was the go-to weapon for Chicago criminals,” the lawsuit states. “In 1931, the public outcry in response to this violence led Illinois to prohibit machine guns, followed shortly thereafter by national regulation of machine guns. Unfortunately, the machine gun has returned as a weapon of choice for criminals in Chicago—this time in the form of a Glock pistol, which can be easily modified into a machine gun using a simple, quarter-sized device called an auto sear.”

If you’re thinking, “What a crock!” then we’re thinking along the same lines. Anyone who knows anything about guns is aware that modifying a semi-auto firearm to function where it fires multiple rounds with one pull of the trigger produces what is defined as a “machine gun,” and possession of that illegal machine gun carries a penalty of 10 years in federal prison, along with a $150,000 fine.

The lawsuit also claims: “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. 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. According to one ATF agent, the use of guns equipped with auto sears is ‘one of the scariest things’ the agency has dealt with in decades.”

Interestingly, Chicago leaders almost hit the nail on the head here by almost admitting that criminals are the problem. In fact, it is violent criminals committing serious felonies that are converting Glocks, then using them to attack rival gang members on Chicago’s mean streets.

In its conclusion, the lawsuit asks the court to make several declarations against Glock that would certainly cripple the company, including, “enjoining Glock from marketing and selling pistols that can easily be converted to fully automatic to Chicago non-law-enforcement consumers via its website and Illinois gun stores that serve the Chicago market; ordering Glock to implement reasonable controls, safeguards and procedures to prevent its easily converted pistols from being possessed, used, marketed or sold unlawfully to non-law-enforcement consumers in Chicago and by Illinois gun stores that serve the Chicago market; awarding damages against Glock for a reasonable sum of money that will fairly compensate the City for its damages; awarding judgment against Glock for a sum of money that will allow the City to abate the nuisance that Glock has created; awarding fines against Glock under MCC § 2-25-090 and MCC § 1-20-060; ordering Glock to disgorge profits obtained through unlawful conduct; awarding the City pre- and post-judgment interest, to the extent allowable; awarding the City exemplary damages; and awarding the City its costs of investigation and suit, including any reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.”

As most TTAG readers are aware, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) was passed back in 2005 to prevent just frivolous lawsuits just like this one in which gunmakers are blamed for criminal misuse of their safe, legally made, lawfully marketed products. Alas, Chicago leaders, in their attempt to blame runaway violent crime in the city on something other than their own malfeasance, seem to care little about such laws.

The real answer to the problem would be to arrest, convict and jail the violent criminals shooting each other on a daily basis on the streets of Chicago. Alas, that solution just doesn’t jive with the politics of Chicago’s leaders, leaving everyone in the city more imperiled as a result.

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69 COMMENTS

  1. “A hundred years ago, the Thompson submachine gun, also known as the Tommy gun, was the go-to weapon for Chicago criminals.”

    Chicago and Illinois also have the unsavory distinction of having some of the most corrupt (and potentially the most often prosecuted) politicians.

    Sounds to me like there is a criminal scumbag problem in Chicago and Illinois, NOT a firearm problem.

  2. Aren’t the switches made in China? Does Chicago really think they are all made by Glock and sold to gangs.
    If Chicago REALLY wanted to stop the killings they could, except they would have to go into gangland Chicago and arrest and take every illegal guns they find. The DOJ, the ATF and all of the politicians have all turned their heads from the problem/issues.

    Cowards, all of them. They do not believe (or mean) in the agenda they espouse!!! And so it goes on!

    • No, they do not think that Glock makes the switches. They accuse Glock of producing a pistol that is “easily modified” by third parties with 3-D printed or China sourced parts. They want Glock to modify its design so that the auto sears won’t fit, and/or stop selling to civilians.

      If this works, the next target will be every maker of ARs, as all of them can be modified with the appropriate parts into a full auto firearm.

      • Not really. The standard AR receiver has been made with a high shelf for several decades that prevents ready inertion of all “the appropriate parts to make it a full auto firearm”
        I mean you can get a low shelf receiver, they’re not illegal, but you kinda have to search one out.

        • I guess none of you are aware of a recent 3d printed device called a super safety by Hoffman Tactical. it fits on any milspec lower. You will be soon though. You might want to look it up on you tube. Glock switches are easily printed by any high school kid with a 3d printer as well. gun control is over. people just don’t know it yet. AR lowers are flying off printers 24/7 being printed in nylon carbon fiber. kids are electrochemicaly machining rifling in barrel blanks using car batteries and printed templates. There is a design out now for a 3d printed belt fed gatling gun. propellant is being sourced from powder actuated tools at home depot…
          If you want to ban guns you have to ban tools. If you want to ban tools you have to ban raw materials, and books.

          Anybody who says he “supports the Second Amendment, but…” has let that abnegatory but start him on a path that ends in a pile of blazing books.

          Or blazing people.

          Take our guns, we still have our tools. We will make new guns and take them back.

          Take our tools, we still have our books. We will make new tools.

          Take our books, we still have the knowledge in our minds. How do you propose to take that?

        • “Take our books, we still have the knowledge in our minds. How do you propose to take that?”

          Time. Yes, that’s actually the answer. It’s how long games work.

          Memories fade, skills dull and are lost. There are many historical examples of this, not the least cited of which are many methods of Roman construction which were lost for centuries.

  3. “… the lawsuit asks the court to … [award] judgment against Glock for a sum of money that will allow the City to abate the nuisance that Glock has created …”

    I will boldly assert the following: Chicago Democrats have created the giant nuisance which is Chicago.

    Nevertheless, just in case someone wants to insist that Glock really is to blame for the giant nuisance which is Chicago, please explain how Glock is responsible for the mayhem in the 1930s and the 1960s BEFORE GLOCK EVEN EXISTED.

    Pro-tip: human trash (of all colors, stripes, nationalities, creeds, and origins) are responsible for the giant nuisance which is Chicago. Blaming Glock for the last 100 years of corruption and violent crime in Chicago is akin to blaming Playboy magazine for the last 1000 years of violent rape all over the world.

    • I was thinking about the “all creeds” part of your statement in regard to Chicago being a violent cesspool. I would assert that fervent adherents of the Apostles Creed, Nicean Creed, and the Westminster Confession commit fewer violent crimes on average. 🤔

    • I think its taken 80 years. Before technology has caught up to the NFA. And humans who solve problems have “cracked the code.”
      They simply have gone around the NFA.

      Unfortunately, people want to argue about “the spirit of the law” or “what the law intended”. Instead of following what was written in black and white.

  5. Chicago is broke and there us nothing left for the politicians to . So the democrats that run the place are trying to subsidize their income via baseless lawsuits

    • Shh. California is broke too. Don’t give it any ideas. As it is, they just imposed an 11% tax on firearms and ammo, are attempting to tax wealthy individuals and companies for leaving the state, and are otherwise desperate to raise funds to cover a $71 billion budget hole. If they could print money, they would.

  6. But, but, but ….. gun restrictions. Illinois has the strictest gun laws so how can this even be possible?

  7. What you are seeing is the result of the New York ruling against Trump and the half billion dollar fine against him.

    The floodgates are open and it now seems possible to target a person or company or product you do not like and pile on so many fines, penalties and fees as to bankrupt them upon conviction.

    This will not be the last unless the judge and DA in New York are slapped down hard on appeal.

  8. Bah ha ha ha ha ha ha 🤣 The sheer absurdity inherent in this is mind numbing. I’m officially taking a News Free weekend, I can’t take this fucking clown world.

      • Right on! Well in the meantime I hope you and yours have a fantastic weekend, filled with much relaxation and laughter. ✌️ That goes for everyone else who reads that as well.

    • Been doing that for a while, very healthy to do periodically. The clowns will all still be there when you get back, no worries on that count.

  9. The fact that these type lawsuits can make it to a courtroom is proof the entire judicial system is corrupt. Government has evolved into criminal enterprise.

      • “Anyone can sue anybody for anything. That doesn’t mean that they will prevail.”

        For how many decades did cigarette companies get sued for causing lung cancer and have their lawsuits be laughed out of court?

        Who’s laughing now?

        That’s the playbook they will continue to develop…

    • “Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act –”

      And when they eventually control all 3 houses of congress again and outright repeal the PLCA, what’s the plan then?

  11. Advertise on Facebook or crookbook or whatever, that there will be a gangster shoot-off with ammo provided, to be held at an empty Soldier Field, to determine who is the baddest, meanest emmereffer of all. Televise it on pay per view, and give the lone survivor a plane trip to Haiti. Oh, planes can’t land in Haiti?… tuck n roll from 2500 feet, tough guy.

  12. Why not it worked already. Liberal DA’s all across the country sued Kia/Hyundai for “making their cars too easy to steal” and the automaker settled.

    It’s easy to pass the buck, but hopefully they hit a wall with the PLCA

    • … you mean like NYC already does?
      Oh, and they’ll probably eventually go after Exxon, too. I hear it’s really easy to turn their gasoline into an arson materiel with easily obtainable matches, and Exxon has deeper pockets than glock.

        • Little Known Fact
          … like all good news “stories” the author of the tale about Mrs. O’Leary and her cow admitted he made the whole thing up. The reporter, Michael Ahern of a long- defunct Chicago newspaper
          used the last name to make the story more believable due to Anti-Irish sentiment that was prevalent during that period.

        • Chicago had a Civil War POW camp that was as bad as Andersonville in the South. Former POWs might have started the fire for vengeance.

  15. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Chicago government pays gangs to do what they do to create more chaos and exert more control.

  18. They’re already handcuffed by the city! Democraps look what they’ve done to every city they control! Chaos, they do it best! Putin, Stalin, xi must be proud!

  20. The answer is obvious: put a warning label on the pistol box:
    “Modification of this handgun is known to be dangerous to the states of
    Illinois
    New York
    Maryland
    Massachusetts
    California
    Washington
    Any state north and east of Ohio

  21. From the title I didn’t know that Glock misused their pistols in Chiraq, I always thought that it was illegal, or maybe it was the illegals (who now have the right to own firearms in Il) . While ISP is trying to revoke FOID cards from the lawabiding.

    • These drop ins, sure but like everything definitions matter.

      As for a Glock with an auto-sear actually meant for the gun, there’s the Glock 18. They’ve been used by several European counter-terror groups.

      The G18 was actually made at the request of the Austrian EKO Cobra counter-terror unit.

      Some US SWAT teams have had them as well as close-protection guys though I can’t comment on how often they take them out of the armory. I’m sure the USSS has a few.

      If you poke around hard enough there are some old (1990’s vintage but they might be from the 80’s) photos of guys who are supposedly Delta carrying “stocked” G18’s, with the stock folded, overseas for such details.

      Considering that they’re LE/.gov only and Glock still makes them, someone’s using them or at least stashing them in the armory just in case.

    • ““Military grade firepower”, my eye.”

      A single-shot, bolt action with a scope is a sniper rifle, and very much a modern weapon of war.

      Do we confiscate literally “grandpa’s deer rifle” next?

      • Do we confiscate literally “grandpa’s deer rifle” next?

        You’ve surely seen the bleeding edge of gun control, the anti-sniper rifle movement, right?

        IOW: Yes.

  23. Another comment that might not survive….

    “If you’re thinking, “What a crock!” then…”

    You’re actually incorrect based on their statement which is factual but misleading by design. They didn’t comment on the legality of the modification, only the ease with which it may be accomplished, and yes, “switchies” are stupid simple to install.

    This is the logical extension of their push from years past on “easily convertible” vis a vis “assault weapons”. When will you learn that everything they do follows a pattern?

    “As most TTAG readers are aware, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) was passed back in 2005…”

    And is becoming increasingly irrelevant as politicians ignore court orders against them, even from SCOTUS. Something I pointed out as far back as the *aftermath* of the NLRB ruling in 2013.

    But, as I’m constantly reminded, the slippery slope is actually a fallacy. Unless you’re, like, Lauren Southern or something. Because this totally isn’t predictable as fuck.

    ===

    Just keep relying on the courts for your W’s while staying [at this point intentionally] blind to the game that’s afoot. Just keep focusing on your preferred little area(s). Stay in your lane. Never pull your head out of the *sand* and look around.

    Because, you know, that strategy worked out great for the SRs, Mensheviks, anarchists, clergy and tens of millions of just normal people.

    OK, that’s not true. They got a minimum of a “tenner” or, at worst, they got shot or hanged or tortured to death. Or starved. But hey, those W’s just kept coming! Until they didn’t.

    If you play commie games, you will win commie prizes. “Face the wall” is the best you can hope for.

    • Thank you for saying that. But I go back to the former Confederate States of America.
      In the 1870s they began defying the courts as well. Passing laws that violated the constitution. They didn’t care. And in the 21st century in places like New York or Colorado, they don’t care either.

      If people want to keep their rights, they’re going to have to move. Move to a place to be around like-minded people.

      That is what the mormons did a very long time ago. And then jealously protect what you have created. And what you have in your new land.

      The fascist/communist did the same thing. They were out numbered in the states they lived in. So they moved to California Oregon, Washington State etc.

      • Over a long enough timeline moving like this is just balkanization that makes targeting easier.

        No matter how you cut that, the end outcome is war. Longer term readers will know I have long advocated against the idea of a war on this front, but if that’s where we’re going, let’s quit the subtle shit and get it done like adults. The Right side of the aisle has acted like children for far too long IMHO.

        Civil war or “regular” war, the outcome is war. There is no chance that you’re going to end up with a zealous Communist country right next door to you and that it will leave you alone. It’s Workers of the World, remember?

        All forms of hard-Left ideology are ruthlessly expansionist. Giving them a clear “the enemy is over there” line actually makes what they naturally do easier. I therefore rate it as unwise.

        Interpersonal relations, regardless of scale, all function on the same basic wavelength. These people will continue to push unless they are afraid to keep pushing. They’re not afraid at all because nothing anyone Right of center has done in the past 75 years poses the least threat to them. They have, quite correctly, judged the Right side of the aisle to be willing to “turn the other cheek” at all costs.

        You will give them something to fear, primarily by CORRECTLY calling them out in public, shining a light so the roaches scurry away, or you 100% will have to fight them. No different than a bully that takes your milk money.

        It is my humble suggestion that the country stop giving up its milk money by doing the things that instill doubt in the bully, thereby avoiding having to punch the bully’s teeth out of his mouth.

    • “Just keep relying on the courts for your W’s while staying [at this point intentionally] blind to the game that’s afoot.”

      I see exactly what’s going on concerning the manipulation of the courts. This eventually leads directly to a very dark place that just might result in a second ghastly revolutionary war, since the only way out of fascist control is to put them against the wall…

      • Along the current path a great many people on both sides end up against the wall.

        However, politics is interesting in the von Clausewitzian spectrum sort of way. If war is politics with weapons instead of words then the opposite side of the spectrum is the reverse. This is why I’ve often referred to it as a “knife fight in a telephone booth”.

        It’s also why I talk about propaganda, psychology and manipulation so much. If you use the propaganda properly you need not lie to change the psychology on the other side. If you’re inside their OODA loop by doing this, well, the world is your oyster.

        There’s a big political lesson in there. Machiavelli talked about it.

        Here’s a physical representation of this, one I’ve personally used against people who are 100lbs heavier than me and can bench twice what I can. This is the kind of thing that makes them go from looking at you as prey to looking at you as a very dangerous predator very quickly. Well, after they wake up because this comes on really fast.

        Handing a bunch of you the political version is my goal here. Always has been.

        [Also, if you don’t get it after the video, go to YT and search for “top five loop chokes”.]

  24. ITS THE OTHER WAY AROUND!!

    Glock should be suing the city of crime for ALLOWING ITS SUBJECTS INTO VIOLATING THE LAW and “Abusing” their glock defensive weapons

    • If you’re going to engage in counter-lawfare then you need to be at least reasonably intelligent about it, meaning you need to put away the emotion and the impetus to “dO sOmEthInGz!” for a minute.

      If Glock’s going to sue they need to sue for something that they can get through a courthouse door without being laughed at. They won’t make it past a standing argument with a liberal court/judge and they will really need standing with a conservative judge because that judge, being conservative and probably not up on how things actually are IRL, is going to demand strict adherence to the rules.

      Libel would be a good choice in this case since Chicago has written this stuff down in public documents.

      Now you need to find a jurisdiction where you can run Chicago through the ringer.

      File that libel case in rural Alabama in the most red jurisdiction you can find with the most hardcore Conservative judge you can get.

      Now you need to think about what happens if you actually do this and manage to truly run a reverse-lawfare play against Chicago. That starts with understanding that Chicago doesn’t have its own money, only its taxpayers have money and they’re the ones you’re screwing. That’s not something the City will ignore, they’ll beat that drum all day. So, what’s your plan to counter their propaganda that portrays the City as double victims of a greedy capitalist (probably racist/sexist/transphobic/xenophobic) arms manufacturer (merchant of death)?

      • “File that libel case in rural Alabama in the most red jurisdiction you can find with the most hardcore Conservative judge you can get.”

        Texas fifth circuit has recently been performing admirably in that regard…

  25. The “gun community” has never supported the widespread ownership of machine guns in the general population.

    “That’s just a waste of ammunition.”

    “That’s just a range toy.”

    There is nothing wrong with an educated and disciplined teenage boy, with a machine pistol. A boy raised by his father. A father who was educated about firearms.

    But “they” don’t want to address the social problems “they” helped to create. “They” disagreed with the christians. Who said a father is necessary in the home.

    So now they blame the physical object. They refuse to hold accountable the criminal teenager. Underage children with machine guns, are not being arrested. They’re not being prosecuted.

    Because the libertarians liberals and the left. All complain there are too many people being locked up. And in the upside down weird Unicorn world they think of.

    A single mother having five kids from five different men and never getting married. That is not a social problem. It doesn’t create any long term negative consequences to them.

    Unfortunately the libertarians liberals in the left are stupid about history. This happened before in American history. When so many fathers were killed off because of the american civil war.

    And you had tens of thousands of boy’s left, without strong adult male and moral leadership. And for about 20 years the “wild west” was very much a real thing.

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