Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced a lawsuit Thursday against a major gun manufacturer.
"I am suing Glock for making pistols that can easily be turned into machine guns," said Ellison announcing a Thursday morning press conference. "Glock has known about this problem for decades and refuses to solve it. They are putting people in danger and it has to stop."
The civil lawsuit claims the Glock has been aware since the 1980s that the design of its pistols allowed for easy modification to make the gun function like a fully automatic firearm. Ellison says these illegal guns were used in at least two recent high-profile murders in the Twin Cities.
Ellison described how they work.
"Whereas standard semiautomatic Glock handguns fire one bullet with each trigger pull, the guns in these cases have been converted into fully automatic weapons using a simple cheap device called a Glock switch," says Ellison.
In two recent incidents, one in May of 2021 and another in August of 2023, illegal guns were used. Although the shooters were arrested, Ellison says now is the time to go after another party.
"Glock is in violation of several Minnesota laws," claims Ellison. "The Prevention of Consumer Fraud Act, the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, the False Statement in Advertising Act, as well as public nuisance, negligence and products liability laws."
The civil lawsuit claims Glock has known for decades that the pistols can easily be converted into illegal machine guns, yet they did nothing to combat this hazard.
Ellison says it's time to stop putting lives in danger.
"We are not asking Glock to stop selling handguns," he says. "We are asking Glock to change their design of its semiautomatic handguns available to the public so that they cannot be easily converted into illegal machine guns."
The attorney general was joined by Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara, as well as activist groups to discuss the public safety impacts of that state lawsuit.