Maryland leaders sue gun manufacturer Glock alleging company contributed to gun violence crisis

    BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott filed a lawsuit against major gun manufacturer Glock, alleging that the company violated the state's Gun Industry Accountability Act and contributed to the gun violence crisis.

"Since 1990, Glock has manufactured a pistol that can easily be converted into a machine gun," Brown said.

According to Mayor Scott, the city has seen an increase in Glock switches in the past few years. A switch is a device used to modify semiautomatic weapons, making them fully automatic.

"This is a growing threat to safety," Mayor Scott said. "Those seeking to do harm in our communities are using these switches on easily modifiable Glock weapons to carry out criminal activity.

Scott continued, "These attachments primarily used on Glock weapons and ghost guns are able to turn a basic firearm into an illegal automatic machine gun that can fire as fast or faster than military-created firearms."

According to Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley, the department has seen a sharp increase in the recovery of modified Glocks with numbers nearly doubling from 2023 to 2024.

In 2023, 35 Glock switches were recovered in Baltimore, and 65 were recovered in 2024, according to data from Baltimore Police.

Commissioner Worley said 70% of arrest incidents where modified Glocks were recovered involved people who were prohibited from owning a firearm.

Eric Tirschwell, the Executive Director of Everytown Law, said Glocks are the No. 1 gun recovered from criminals in Baltimore and across the U.S. He alleges this is due, in part, to the ease of converting it into an automatic weapon.

"Glock designed these weapons, Glock has promoted Its full auto capabilities and Glock has failed to address this rapidly growing public safety nightmare," Tirschwell said.

According to Mayor Scott, modified Glocks have been recovered during carjackings, drug deals and other violent crimes.

The modified weapons are capable of firing 1,200 rounds per minute, according to AG Brown.

"That's faster than the weapons of war that I used in the Army," the attorney general said. "ATF agents call it 'spray and pray' because once the trigger is pulled, there is no control, only carnage. Glock knows this, they've known for years."

The lawsuit alleges that Glock uses social media and other online platforms to promote the auto capabilities and knows the weapons are being converted.

According to the lawsuit, Glock has falsely claimed it cannot fix the problem. However, Tirschwell says the lawsuit includes several ways that Glock can modify its weapons to prevent the easy conversion.

Through the lawsuit, leaders are demanding a court order that would ban Glock from manufacturing and selling its pistols in Maryland and force the company to implement reasonable safety measures.

Leaders are also demanding the company pay restitution for its role in Maryland's gun violence crisis.

"Glock could have designed its pistols to prevent auto sears [also known as switches] from working. They chose not to. That choice cost lives," AG Brown said.

The attorney general said the lawsuit is the first to be filed under the state's Gun Industry Accountability Act which was passed in 2024. The law prohibits companies in the firearm industry from knowingly contributing to harm through the creation or sale of weapons.

Similar lawsuits were filed by New Jersey and Minnesota in December 2024, CBS New York reported.

The lawsuit against Glock comes one year after the city reached a $1.2 million settlement with Polymer80 Inc., a manufacturer of untraceable ghost guns.

The city's lawsuit accused the company of violating the Maryland Consumer Protection Act and intentionally undermining firearms laws by manufacturing and selling ghost gun kits and parts to buyers without background checks.