On January 1 of 2024, AT posted Glock switches: let the buyer beware. In that article I wrote:

A “Glock Switch” is a small device that replaces the slide-in plate at the back of a Glock’s slide. It supposedly allows slide-in, fully automatic fire. Glock does make an automatic pistol, the Glock 18, which is a Glock 17 with a selector lever on the rear of the slide on the left side. Properly used by competent shooters, which means firing 2-3 round bursts, the 18 is entirely controllable. What we don’t know is how many of these devices are in circulation and how many have been used in crimes. We also don’t know if they work like a G18, or if pulling the trigger must empty the magazine. In any case, no one wants criminals or terrorists in possession of any such thing.

Graphic: ATF, Public Domain

In that article I also noted most, if not all, Glock switches are provided by China, and most offerings appear to be either scams or ATF entrapment schemes. Possession of any single part involved in converting a semiautomatic firearm to fully automatic fire is treated the same as possession of an illegal machinegun. Glock does not market Glock switches or any other means to convert their handguns to fully automatic fire. It sells the Glock 18 only to lawfully eligible agencies like militaries or the police, not individuals, and to the sane can’t be liable for illegal alterations of their guns about which they have no knowledge nor over which they have no control.

That fundamental principle of criminal and tort law, however, doesn’t stop the ATF or anti-liberty/gun blue states like Maryland, which is suing Glock, which dominates the world handgun market: 

Earlier this week, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott filed the lawsuit. According to a report at Cbsnews.com, the lawsuit alleges that Glock violated the state’s Gun Industry Accountability Act and contributed to the “gun violence crisis” (anti-gun code for blaming guns for criminal violence). 

“Since 1990, Glock has manufactured a pistol that can easily be converted into a machine gun,” Brown told the news outlet.

In response to that lawsuit, Glock has noted it isn’t responsible for Glock switches and can’t redesign its products to render what are already illegal devices unable to produce automatic fire. Glock also notes it’s not their fault criminals, who violate federal law merely by possessing such devices, use them to commit crimes. As one might expect, other blue states are on the anti-liberty/gun anti-Glock bandwagon:

Incidentally, Baltimore and Maryland aren’t the only ones targeting Glock. Last December, AGs from New Jersey and Minnesota also sued the company over criminals using “Glock switches” to make the guns full-auto. Earlier in the year, Chicago also filed such a suit, accusing Glock of contributing to the city’s runaway violence.

These attempts are a clear violation of the 2005, truly bi-partisan, Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), which prevents lawsuits against manufacturers of guns and ammunition. Anti-liberty/gun organizations hit on the death-by-a-thousand- cuts method of suing gun and ammo makers for the criminal misuse of their lawful products. Even if manufacturers won every suit, legal fees would bankrupt them, which was the intention of anti-liberty/gun cracktivists in 2005 just as it’s their intention in suing Glock now.

Joe Biden’s handlers lied, arguing the PLCAA gives manufacturers complete immunity, but they can be sued as can any manufacturer for negligence and other traditional torts. Unfortunately, blue states are rife with leftist judges more than willing to bankrupt gun makers by ignoring or manipulating the few exceptions to the PLCAA 

Federal law requires that semiautomatic guns not be readily convertible to fully automatic fire, but anyone with the right parts and even rudimentary tools can do such conversions. Skilled machinists can make the parts and have the professional tools to do the job properly. It is no small thing to completely redesign any handgun mechanism, and Glock’s design is among the most reliable, effective and safe designs on the market. Glock pioneered the design, which virtually every manufacturer has copied. Successfully suing Glock could open the door to suing every gun maker on similar grounds.

These blue state suits are also an attempt at distraction and misdirection. Blue states and cities are havens for criminals. They have persecuted and hamstrung their police, abolished bail, and prosecute only a tiny portion of all crimes. Admitting their policies are not only wrong but deadly is a bridge too far. How can intellectually and morally superior beings admit error? Their policies, like themselves, are perfect, non-falsifiable. Better to blame their failings on Glock.

Congress should revisit the PLCAA to eliminate any possible path to blue state abuse. With Donald Trump in the White House and Republicans in control of congress, that’s at least possible.

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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.