Baltimore City and the state of Maryland are suing Glock, Inc in the Circuit Court of Maryland for Baltimore City over the manufacture of pistols that they say can be turned into machine guns within minutes.
The lawsuit alleges that Glock pistols are especially easy to modify with the help of a device called an auto sear: an attachment to a semi-automatic firearm that allows the weapon to fire continuously as long as the trigger is compressed. Those are now illegal in Maryland thanks to a 2024 law passed by the Maryland General Assembly.
According to a report from Everytown for Gun Safety — an anti-gun violence advocacy group whose legal arm is working Baltimore City on the case — the rate at which Glock pistols are modified exceeds that of any other pistol manufacturer.
Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said that the company knows about the problem and could change it. Glock did not immediately respond to WYPR’s request for comment on the lawsuit or allegations made by Baltimore leaders.
“They see their logo printed on illegal auto sears, and yet they do nothing. Glock could have designed its pistols to prevent auto sears from working. They chose not to.That choice cost lives,” said Brown on Wednesday morning.
The problem is becoming more pronounced on Baltimore’s streets, according to data from the Baltimore Police Department. More than 100 modified Glocks were recovered during arrests in 2023 and 2024. BPD believes the modifications are becoming more popular based on the rate at which police are recovering them.
Police also believe the modified guns are becoming more of an issue among the city’s young people; about half of the people arrested for the modification since 2023 were under 21, including a 13- year-old.
The auto sears, more commonly called “glock switches” allow a pistol to fire up to 1200 rounds per minute — faster than the rate of fire on the standard M-4 machine gun issued to U.S. service members.
“In other words, our officers carrying standard blocks or other handguns are outmatched by criminals armed with illegal clock switches,” said Baltimore City Police Commissioner Richard Worley. “One single trigger pool… with a modified lock, puts countless innocent lives in jeopardy.”
“We've alleged Glock has falsely claimed that they can't fix this problem, but the truth, as our lawsuit lays out, and as we intend to prove, is that Glock can fix the problem,” said Eric Tirshwell, the Executive Director of Everytown Law which is working with Baltimore on the suit. “The fix wouldn't be complicated. We've described a number of ways Glock could modify its pistol design to prevent easy conversion.”
There are similar lawsuits against Glock in Chicago, New Jersey and Minnesota.
