“THAT PUNK pulled a Glock,” says Bruce Willis’s character within the action-packed Nineteen Nineties Christmas traditional “Die Arduous 2”. “You already know what that’s?” You might nicely do. That gun on the hip of a police officer? It’s most likely a pistol made by Glock, an Austrian producer. That weapon in John Wick’s arms throughout a heart-thumping scene? One among them is unquestionably a Glock. From regulation enforcement to Hollywood lawbreakers, Glocks are in every single place in popular culture. They’re additionally the gun of alternative for real-life criminals. Which makes the truth that they’ll so simply be become machineguns that rather more worrying.
On March nineteenth the town of Chicago filed a lawsuit in opposition to Glock. Utilizing low-cost add-ons, criminals are remodeling Glock pistols into machineguns. The unlawful system is named an auto sear, however additionally it is often known as a “Glock swap”, although Glock doesn’t make them. They’re the dimensions of a big coin, and they are often purchased for lower than a hardback e book, or made at dwelling by anybody with a 3D printer for a lot much less.
The lawsuit, filed along with Everytown Regulation, a gaggle of litigators specialising in gun reform, claims that Glock is aware of about the issue however has failed to stop it anyway. “No different pistol design is so simply transformed to a machinegun,” says Eric Tirschwell, the chief director of Everytown Regulation. “So why haven’t they fastened theirs?”
Chicago is infamous for its avenue violence, and the pandemic solely made issues worse. Although shootings fell by 13% in 2023 in contrast with 2022, the town continues to be going through a wave of gun violence. Final yr greater than 600 individuals have been murdered, although not all by weapons, and there have been over 2,400 non-fatal shootings. The town of Chicago claims that Glock is making a foul scenario worse. The lawsuit states that between 2021 and 2023, 1,100 modified Glocks have been recovered by Chicago’s police.
The Nationwide Rifle Affiliation, America’s gun foyer, disagrees with blaming Glock. “Chicago’s focus should be on the criminals,” says Andrew Arulanandam, the group’s interim CEO. “With out criminals, there may be much less crime.”
The Windy Metropolis just isn’t alone in going through a barrage of bullets. The District of Columbia and others have additionally reported issues with these unlawful add-ons. Chicago is the primary metropolis to sue over the units. The lawsuit is made attainable by the Illinois Firearms Trade Accountability Act, a state regulation handed final yr that permits gun producers to be sued for public hurt, however it additionally rests on a federal regulation prohibiting machineguns. This swimsuit will be the first of its form, however it most likely received’t be the final. ■
Keep on high of American politics with The US in brief, our day by day publication with quick evaluation of an important electoral tales, and Checks and Balance, a weekly observe from our Lexington columnist that examines the state of American democracy and the problems that matter to voters.
