CHICAGO (CN) — The Windy City filed a new complaint against Glock in Cook County on Monday, calling again for the gun manufacturer to stop selling semiautomatic handguns that can be easily modified to fire fully automatic.
The city initially sued Glock in March, but the case was removed to federal court in April. The city voluntarily dismissed that case Monday and re-filed in state court the same day, though the complaint only became publicly available on Tuesday.
Chicago repeats in its Monday suit claims from its first complaint against Glock, accusing the gun maker of returning machine guns to Chicago streets, nearly a century after they were banned.
"In 1931, the public outcry in response to [Prohibition-era] violence led Illinois to prohibit machine guns, followed shortly thereafter by national regulation of machine guns," the city wrote in its 67-page complaint Monday. "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."
Installing an auto sear on a Glock semiautomatic pistol allows a user to shoot continuously by keeping the trigger squeezed, instead of having to pull the trigger every time they want to fire a single round. Though most Glock pistol magazines can only hold between six and 17 rounds — with some extended magazines having space for as many as 33 rounds — the city estimates that a Glock with an auto sear could theoretically fire over 1,200 rounds per minute.
Glock does not directly sell or manufacture auto sears — also known as "switches" — but a simple Google search for "Glock auto sear" produces numerous results for retailers openly selling versions of the device. Some retailers even emblazon the Glock logo on them.
Thus far, the city claims, the company has not taken sufficient steps to ensure its pistols are incompatible with these devices, or to prevent them from entering the Chicago-area market.
"These terrifying weapons have caused death and destruction throughout Chicago: they have been recovered in connection with homicides, aggravated assaults, batteries, kidnappings, burglaries, home invasions, carjackings and attempted robberies," the city says.
Much of the complaint is similar to Chicago's initial lawsuit against Glock, but the city expands on its March filing by naming two local gun shops — Eagle Sports Range, located in the Chicago suburb of Oak Forest, and Midwest Sporting Goods, located in the suburb of Lyons — as defendants. Both shops sell Glock semiautomatic handguns.
"Defendants Midwest Sporting Goods and Eagle Sports Range know that Glocks are easily and frequently modified into illegal machine guns and yet continue to market and sell Glock pistols into Chicago," the city writes.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives included both shops on a 2023 list of firearm retailers tied to crime guns. The bureau also revoked Eagle's firearm dealer license in 2022 over multiple violations, including the falsification of records.
Chicago accused Eagle Monday of avoiding accountability for these violations by transferring the business through multiple shell entities, which are also named on the defendant list.
"Within three days of Eagle Sports Range receiving its revocation notice, a 25-year-old relative of the owner filed articles of incorporation for a new company that would run the exact same gun store, at the exact same location, using the same inventory, while employing much of the same staff," the city writes.
The city further said Eagle Sports Range accounted for 4% of all crime guns in the city that were traced to a known seller. It also claimed Midwest Sporting Goods has "consistently ranked in the top two of dealer sources of crime guns recovered in Chicago dating back to at least 2009."
Despite these controversies, Glock lists both shops in its searchable online list of dealers. Chicago accuses Glock of prioritizing profit over safety by maintaining its relationship with the shops.
"Glock has chosen not to cut off these stores’ supply of its pistols, even though it has the contractual right to audit its dealers and require information about their compliance records, because it has not wanted to sacrifice the profits they provide," Chicago claimed. "Instead, Glock empowers unsafe gun dealers to enter and remain in its preferred network and to sell its easily modified firearms."
Midwest Sporting Goods declined to comment on the issue; an Eagle Sports Range representative said no officials were available for comment on Tuesday.
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