Maryland, Baltimore sue Glock over gun crimes

Feb 19, 2025

Lawsuit alleges gun-maker 'failing to implement reasonable controls'

Lawsuit alleges gun-maker 'failing to implement reasonable controls'

Lawsuit alleges gun-maker 'failing to implement reasonable controls'

A lawsuit alleges Glock makes and sells guns that are easily turned into illegal machine guns, the state of Maryland and the city of Baltimore announced Wednesday morning.

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and local law firms announced the lawsuit, alleging the handgun manufacturer facilitates the proliferation of illegal machine guns.

| DOCUMENT: Read the lawsuit here (PDF)

State and city leaders said the lawsuit alleges Glock unreasonably endangers and harms public health and safety in Maryland by manufacturing and selling semiautomatic pistols that can easily be converted to illegal machine guns with an auto sear, which officials described as a cheap, small device commonly known as a "Glock switch."

The device is about the size of a dime, and, once installed, it can allow the shooter to fire 1,200 rounds a minute — a rate as fast as, or faster than, many fully automatic firearms and machine guns used by the U.S. military, officials said.

"(Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) agents call it 'spray and pray' because once the trigger is pulled, there is no control, only carnage," Brown said.

The lawsuit alleges Glock has failed to "implement reasonable controls" to combat the unlawful possession, alteration and use of its semiautomatic pistols.

The lawsuit states, in part:

State and city leaders said the lawsuit alleges Glock has made it possible for criminals to arm themselves with fully automatic firepower, "returning the machine gun to the streets of Baltimore," amid its continued sale of semiautomatic pistols that are easily converted into machine guns — which are heavily regulated and restricted under federal and state law.

The lawsuit states, in part:

Officials said the lawsuit seeks to prohibit Glock from continuing to sell its easily modifiable pistols to civilians, as well as restitution.

"Glock knows that its weapons are increasingly converted to unleash mayhem in our cities and our streets. We allege Glock falsely claims they can't fix the problem," said Eric Tirschwell, the executive director and chief litigation counsel at Everytown Law.

The lawsuit focuses on weapons that the officials said have been used in shootings, carjackings, drug distribution and other violent crimes, including a June 2023 shootout with police near Patterson Park in which police said Darryl Gamble, 40, had a rifle and a Glock.

"A suspect shot at BPD officers. He had a modified Glock — 33 shell casings were found from the suspect's weapon," Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said.

Baltimore police said officers seized 35 modified Glock weapons in 2023 and 65 in 2024.

"This is a growing threat to the city. People who do harm in our community are using these switches on easily modifiable Glock weapons to carry out criminal activity," Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said.

According to the lawsuit, Baltimore police recovered as many as 100 illegally modified Glock pistols at crime scenes and in connection with criminal investigations from 2023-24, saying the recovery of modified Glocks in Baltimore almost doubled in that time period.

"This is a growing threat to the city. People who do harm in our community are using these switches on easily modifiable Glock weapons to carry out criminal activity," Scott said.

About half of the people Baltimore police arrested in connection with incidents involving illegally modified Glocks were under the age of 21, the lawsuit states.

"Each bullet fired in Baltimore streets leaves behind more than shell casings. It leaves shattered families, grieving parents and communities in fear," Brown said.

The lawsuit also names Glock Ges.m.b.H, the Austria-based parent company of Glock Inc., the U.S. subsidiary.

WBAL-TV 11 News has reached out to Glock for comment.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday in Baltimore City Circuit Court is the first to use Maryland's new Gun Industry Accountability Act, passed and signed into law in 2024.

In January, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to Maryland's strict gun licensing law. In February 2024, Baltimore City resolved a 2022 lawsuit against Polymer80, the nation's largest manufacturer of ghost guns, after having reached a $1.2 million settlement.

In September 2024, the attorneys general of Maryland and Washington, D.C., sued three Rockville gun shops for their alleged roles in fueling a gun-trafficking scheme through straw selling and buying. According to online court records as of Wednesday, the next court hearing is scheduled for August.