WMBCTV: Glock facing lawsuit by New Jersey, Minnesota

Glock, the handgun manufacturer, is being sued over its model pistol that, the New Jersey Attorney General says, can be modified and turned into a military-grade machine gun. This lawsuit comes as the New Jersey Attorney General announces his leadership of a multi-state coalition.

“Today, I’m announcing that I am leading a coalition of 16 states,” said Attorney General Matt Platkin. “To form a multi-state coalition to hold irresponsible gun companies accountable when they break our laws and contribute to the gun violence epidemic.”

While Attorney General Platkin announces his leadership of the new multi state coalition, he says that the first action to come from this coalition is New Jersey and Minnesota’s joint efforts in a lawsuit against Glock.

“Our lawsuit alleges multiple violations of New Jersey Firearms Public Safety Law as well as other state laws,” said Platkin. “These violations stem from Glock’s design and sale of its namesake pistols which can be easily switched into illegal machine guns.”

Platkin explains that switches are an illegal component that can be easily obtained.

“It’s a small add-on component the size of a dime or lego piece that when added to the rear of a Glock pistol, makes that pistol function as a machine gun,” said Platkin. “A switch enables a Glock to automatically fire up to 12-hundred rounds per minute, a rate that’s faster than many fully automatic and machine guns used by the United States Military and it does so with one trigger pull.” 

Platkin says the goal of the lawsuit is to prevent Glock from selling the model that owners have the ability to convert into automatic weapons.

“Our lawsuit filed in New Jersey in the chancery division demands that Glock suspend sales of the switchable guns to New Jersey Civilians,” said Platkin.