Why Should Delaware Care?
Battles over gun control legislation often play out in the courts. As the number of converted machine guns has risen rapidly in recent years, a lawsuit over Glock handguns that can be made into automatic weapons has the potential to impact the prevalence of both Glock firearms and illegal automatic weapons in Delaware.
Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings is suing gun manufacturer Glock for allowing the handguns it sells to easily be converted into automatic weapons, an unprecedented move for the state.
Jennings’ office filed the lawsuit against the international firearms manufacturer on Oct. 22, alleging the company has designed its handguns such that adding an inexpensive piece called a Glock switch — sold by third-party dealers — turns the weapon into an automatic machine gun.
“The result is a flood of Glocks equipped with Glock switches on American streets,” the complaint states. “These weapons are notoriously difficult to control, increasing the risk of catching bystanders in a bullet spray, and multiplying the devastation caused by gunfire.”
Semi-automatic firearms, which are sold by Glock and other firearms manufacturers and are legal in most places, fire one bullet per pull of the trigger by the gun handler. Automatic handguns, however, which are much more heavily regulated in the United States, are able to fire continuously with one pull of the trigger.
The suit is being brought by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Impact Litigation, which is part of the department’s Fraud Division, in the Court of Chancery.
It calls for the court to stop Glock from selling handguns to civilians — not military and law enforcement professionals who also use Glock weapons — based on multiple public nuisance charges.
The 82-page complaint describes a number of ways that Glock has allowed consumers to turn handguns into automatic machine guns, including failing to redesign the handguns so they cannot be turned into illegal guns and allowing third-party sellers to put the Glock logo on the attachment pieces.
The Glock switch, according to the complaint, is a small metal or plastic device the size of a lego piece that can be purchased for under $20 and can be placed on the back of a Glock handgun to make it fire as an automatic machine gun.
The DOJ and gun violence prevention advocates are lauding the lawsuit as another step toward better gun safety in Delaware, while Second Amendment advocates say it is a misplaced attempt to punish manufacturers for the behavior of criminals.
Representatives from Glock did not respond to Spotlight Delaware’s request for comment on the lawsuit.
Traci Manza Murphy, executive director of the Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence, said the lawsuit follows up on a Delaware law passed in 2022, often referred to as KeKe’s law, which holds firearm manufacturers and dealers accountable for what the law describes as “knowingly or recklessly” endangering the safety of Delawareans.
Most notably, KeKe’s law resulted in an ongoing Superior Court lawsuit against the Christiana Mall location of Cabela’s gun shop for what the DOJ described as the store taking a “hands-off” approach to individuals who shoplifted 500,000 rounds of ammo.
“We’ve long recognized that gun manufacturers have a role to play in preventing gun violence,” Manza Murphy said. “And when a company knows that its product can be easily converted into an illegal machine gun, we should expect to address that.”
However, Jeff Hague, president of the Delaware State Sportsmens’ Association, the state’s NRA-affiliate, said his group views the lawsuit as merely “another means of trying to keep people from owning firearms.”
The federal and state governments already prohibit individuals from making a handgun into an automatic rifle, so the litigation is an unnecessary attack on law-abiding citizens’ right to bear arms, Hague said.
The Delaware DOJ is the sole plaintiff on the Glock lawsuit, but similar legal challenges have been filed in New Jersey, Minnesota and Maryland, a spokesperson for the DOJ told Spotlight Delaware.
Chancery Court Judge Nathan Cook has been assigned to the case. A preliminary hearing had not been scheduled as of Monday afternoon.
Maggie Reynolds is a Report for America corps member and Spotlight Delaware reporter who covers rural communities in Delaware. Your donation to match our Report for America grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://spotlightdelaware.org/support/.
