Attorney General Phil Weiser joins state coalition telling Glock to preserve evidence related to firearms’ easy conversion into machine guns

March 26, 2024 (DENVER) – Attorney General Phil Weiser joined 12 other states telling Glock, Inc. to preserve all evidence related to a line of Glock pistols that can be easily converted into illegal machine guns with just one small, easy-to-make modification.

The states’ letter to Glock was sent in the wake of the gunmaker being sued by the City of Chicago. In that lawsuit, filed on March 19, Chicago alleges that Glock has known that the guns can be easily adapted into a machine gun with the addition of an auto sear—a cheap, small device commonly known as a “Glock switch.” Glock has known that the ability to carry out this do-it-yourself conversion is built into its handgun design and that the company has refused to make meaningful design changes to fix this problem the lawsuit alleges.

Chicago is seeking a court order requiring Glock to end sales of these easily converted pistols to civilians and to put in place reasonable controls, safeguards, and procedures to prevent their unlawful possession, use, and sale. The letter says that, if Chicago’s factual allegations about Glock are true, Glock’s conduct may also violate state laws.

“Colorado enacted a large capacity magazine law to protect individuals from mass shootings,” Weiser stated. “When it comes to preventing such tragedies, we will continue to enforce our laws and work to save lives. In investigating this matter, cracking down on ghost guns, and in implementing our red flag law, we are remaining vigilant in doing just that.”

According to Chicago’s lawsuit, Glock switches allow pistols to fire up to 1,200 rounds per minute—a rate as fast as or faster than many fully automatic firearms and machine guns used by the U.S. military. Yet the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives reports that more than 5,400 machine-gun conversion parts were seized between 2017 to 2021—a 570% increase from the prior five-year period.

The states are asking Glock to preserve all documents related to:

• The modification of Glock handguns, through the use of switches, to fire automatically, including but not limited to those converted handguns’ use in crime or violence, impact on public safety, or prevalence;
• How Glock pistols are designed and developed to function as a semiautomatic weapon, any efforts Glock may have taken or considered to reduce the capability to be converted easily, and the possibility of any design changes;
• Glock’s knowledge about all state and federal laws relating to Glock switches and converted Glock machine guns, their legal responsibility as a manufacturer of these guns, and whether they followed these laws and met their responsibility;
• Financial details about Glock pistols, including profits, manufacturing, and distribution costs, as well as expenses relating to alternative designs that were available or considered; and
• Any public marketing or advertising related to Glock pistols, including any claims about their safety, lethality, modularity, semiautomatic function, or the speed at which they fire.

The other jurisdictions that signed the letter are Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

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File: Letter to Glock