AG Ellison sues gunmaker Glock over design that makes them easily converted into automatic weapons

Joined by the grieving parents of a son killed by a stray bullet hours before graduating from college, Attorney General Keith Ellison announced Thursday that he is suing one of the nation's largest firearm manufacturers for designing and touting guns that are too easily made into automatic weapons.

The lawsuit claims that Glock Inc. has known for nearly 40 years that its semiautomatic handguns can be easily converted into illegal machine guns. In 1988, Glock founder Gaston Glock demonstrated a device that converted a semiautomatic handgun into a fully automatic machine gun. Ellison and O'Hara said some 65% of guns on the street are Glocks and that the manufacturer could easily fix the conversion problem with a design change.

Instead Glock has continued to promote the "fun" of shooting a fully automatic handgun while knowing that its semiautomatic handguns can be quickly and easily converted into machine guns, which are illegal in the United States, Ellison's lawsuit said.

"We are not asking Glock to stop selling handguns. 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," Ellison said, adding that some Glock switches sell for as low as $10. Others can be 3-D printed within 30 minutes, endangering law enforcement officers who have seized scores of firearms with similar switches attached.

"We have every reason to believe that without decisive action from Glock, these numbers [of automatic gunfire] will rise," Ellison continued. "Preachers will do more funerals. Families will grieve more children. We've got to act, and we've got to act now."

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara and Greg and Veronique Johnson, the parents of 21-year-old Charlie Johnson, stood with Ellison at a state Capitol news conference to support the lawsuit, filed in Hennepin County District Court. Johnson died after automatic gunfire erupted outside the Monarch nightclub in May 2021 just hours before he was to graduate from the University of St. Thomas. A friend said he and Johnson had stepped from an alley near the club when the gunfire rang out, striking Johnson in the back as he tried to escape.

Shedding tears for the son he called his best friend, Greg Johnson said Glock should be held accountable.

"I'm a lifelong hunter and gun owner, and I've asked myself many times: What's the purpose of a device like this switch? … And I can only think of two: One is to increase my ability to put a bullet in a human being. The other one is, 'I think it's cool and I want to be able to do that.' Obviously that's what Glock is marketing," Johnson said. "Think of how many additional handguns they've sold knowing that this was possible, and knowing that it increases the demand for their handguns. Shame on them."

Ellison and O'Hara made the case that a precipitous spike in automatic gunfire has made the streets more deadly.

Ellison and O'Hara showed video from Glock in which the manufacturer promoted how easily its guns can be converted to fire automatically, releasing a fusillade quickly by attaching a cheap — and illegal — switch device. In the video, a demonstrator fires a semiautomatic Glock pistol three times, pausing for a second in between each shot for the gun to fire again. After that demonstrator activates a switch attached to that same Glock, the weapon fires more than a dozen rounds within two seconds of pulling the trigger.

In addition to making guns deadlier, the devices also make them far less accurate and harder to control, increasing the chances that bystanders are wounded or killed.

O'Hara said automatic gunfire didn't exist in Minneapolis before 2020. He and Ellison stood beside a graphic showing that in 2020, only 154 shots fired in Minneapolis were from fully automatic weapons. By 2022, that number was 3,024. Last year it was 2,595.

"It's obvious what the problem is: It's switches," O'Hara said, describing a 2023 case where Minneapolis police officer Jacob Spies was struck and wounded after being ambushed by a barrage of bullets fired from a Glock with an attached switch. "This is not a political issue, this should not be a partisan issue. This is a violent crime issue — this is an officer safety issue, and it is urgent."

Switches and fully automatic guns are already illegal in Minnesota, but still easy to obtain or make. "Why not go upstream?" Ellison said. "Why not stop the problem?"

Ellison said he is seeking both regulatory relief and monetary damages from the courts. He didn't specify an amount.

The Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus decried the lawsuit Thursday, calling Ellison's decision a frivolous use of tax-payer dollars.

"This lawsuit is another example of Keith Ellison using his office, not for the interests of public safety, but to push a partisan anti-gun agenda," Rob Doar, Senior Vice President of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, said in a statement. "Courts have long held that manufacturers cannot be held responsible for the misuse of their products. Instead of pandering to national anti-gun groups to boost his political clout, Ellison should focus on cracking down on the armed criminals terrorizing Minnesotans and putting public safety at risk."

Glock is owned by an Austrian parent company with U.S. headquarters in Smyrna, Ga. The company didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

A similar lawsuit was filed by the state of New Jersey on Thursday. Ellison is hopeful other states will sue as well. "People will see these cases are viable, important and they save lives," he said.