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In 2020, Minneapolis said its ShotSpotter system picked up 154 shots of automatic gunfire. In 2022, the same system picked up 3,024 shots of automatic gunfire. 

“This is a huge problem that’s been exploding,” said Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara.

The key to that increase has been the ease of access to auto sears, or switches, which convert semi-automatic handguns into fully automatic handguns, O’Hara said. 

State officials say the gun most often converted by these switches is the Glock handgun. O’Hara said of the 153 firearms recovered with switches on them, 126 have been Glock handguns, and several others have been ghost guns made to model Glocks.

Minnesota is now suing Glock, saying the gun manufacturer has known about these switches for decades and has not made any design changes to discourage their use.

“Glock has known about this problem for decades and has done nothing a change of design could prevent these handguns from being turned into illegal automatic weapons, but Glock has turned a blind eye, and again and again, the death toll continues to rise,” Attorney General Keith Ellison said Thursday. 

“Glock is in violation of several Minnesota laws, the prevention of Consumer Fraud Act, the deceptive trade practices act, the false statement and advertising Act, as well as public nuisance negligence and products liability laws.”

The suit, which was filed in Hennepin County Court, mirrors a 

Ellison said Glock not only knows about the ease with which these devices can be added to their firearms but also has advertised their automatic handguns as ‘fun.’

He showed a video from the company in which a person switches a Glock automatic handgun, which is not available to the general public, from semi-auto to fully-auto, as a countdown to the new year clicks down on screen.

“What reason would Glock have to promote that to the general public?” Ellison said. “It could only lead more people to seek out an easy, affordable way to get that feature for themselves, which is the Glock switch, which converts the Glock semi-auto into a machine gun, which the general public is not allowed to purchase.”

Ellison said the reason for the lawsuit is to get Glock to change how they manufacture the gun.

“The main thing we want is for them to change the design of this weapon. That’s what we need,” he said. “There have been people who've suffered and deserve compensation, but the main thing we really want, the spirit of this lawsuit, is to change the design of this semi-automatic weapon so that it's not easily convertible to an illegal machine gun.”

O’Hara said this change in Glock’s design is something that everyone should support.

“This is not a political issue. This should not be a partisan issue. This is a violent crime issue. This is an officer safety issue, and it is urgent,” he said.

Glock did not respond to requests for comment.

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Minnesota is suing Glock, saying the company has known about switches — which convert semi-automatic handguns into fully automatic handguns — for decades and has not made any design changes to discourage their use.

Minnesota sues Glock over the design of their handgun

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