State of Minnesota v. Glock, Inc., u0026amp; Glock Ges.m.b.H.

Glock switches are designed to be easy to install. The device prevents a firearm’s trigger bar from reengaging after a single shot, allowing any firearm equipped with a switch to fire continuously with a single trigger pull, thereby creating a machine gun. 

In just seconds, and for as little as $10, an amateur can use a Glock switch no bigger than the size of a LEGO to transform a semiautomatic handgun into an illegal fully automatic weapon.

Although machine guns remain generally outlawed under Minnesota and federal law, Glock switches have flooded the streets of Minnesota, as well as many other US cities, resulting in an increase in gun violence involving deadly fully automatic machine guns.

Between 2017 and 2021, the ATF reported a 570% increase in the recovery of Glock switches and other conversion devices compared to the previous five years. In 2023, the Minneapolis Police Department recovered three times as many Glock switches than in 2021, the first year it began tracking these devices. As a result, incidents of machine gun fire in Minneapolis surged significantly from 2020 to 2022, even as the number of firearm shootings declined. 

Glock’s design, manufacture, and sale of semiautomatic handguns that are easily converted into illegal machine guns, coupled with Glock’s refusal to fix this known hazard actively harms civilians, puts communities at greater risk of gun violence, and violates Minnesota law.

Our complaint features the stories of several innocent Minnesotans who were injured or killed by semiautomatic Glock handguns equipped with Glock switches. On May 22, 2021, a college senior named CJ was killed the night before his graduation outside the Monarch nightclub in Minneapolis during a confrontation between two people carrying Glock handguns modified with a Glock switch, resulting in a spray of bullets that hit CJ and seven other bystanders as they attempted to flee. And on August 11, 2023, a Minneapolis police officer was shot by a .40 caliber Glock handgun equipped with a Glock switch and an extended magazine while investigating a robbery.

On behalf of the people and state of Minnesota, the Minnesota Attorney General is seeking compensation to remedy the harms Minnesotans have suffered as a direct result of Glock, Inc., and Glock Ges.m.b.H.’s deceptive and unlawful conduct, as well as injunctive relief, including requiring Glock to modify the design of its semiautomatic handguns in a manner that prevents them from being easily converted into fully automatic machine guns.

GIFFORDS Law Center is bringing this suit alongside Attorney General Ellison to put an end to Glock’s illegal and harmful conduct and keep Minnesota communities safe from the scourge of illegal machine guns.

The case was filed on December 12, 2024, in the Hennepin County District Court (Case No. 27-CV-24-18827) and named as defendants American gun manufacturer, Glock, Inc., and its Austrian parent company, Glock Ges.m.b.H.

For press inquiries or questions about this lawsuit, please email our press team at media@giffords.org.