A Cook County judge on Thursday denied motions to dismiss a lawsuit brought last year by the city of Chicago against gun manufacturer Glock and a pair of suburban gun stores.
In a 17-page order, Judge Allen P. Walker wrote, in part, that “a reasonable jury could determine that the design and manufacture of a Glock pistol by Glock Inc., its subsequent sale by Eagle Sports Range and Midwest Sporting Goods, materially contribute to a condition in the City of Chicago that endangers the safety and health of the public.”
The next hearing in the lawsuit, brought by the city last year, is scheduled for next month.
“This ruling is a major step towards holding Glock accountable for endangering the residents of our city,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement.
The city has alleged that Glock willfully ignored design flaws in its handguns that allow for them to be easily turned to fire automatic rounds.
The spike in the use of “auto sears” or “switches” — quarter-size devices affixed to Glock pistols that allow for multiple bullets to be fired with one trigger pull — has exacerbated the city’s entrenched violence problems, city attorneys allege.
“Instead of taking reasonable action to put an end to the modification of its pistols by civilians, Glock has made the business decision to continue profiting from the sales of its easily modifiable guns to the civilian market,” the lawsuit states.
The defendants — Glock, along with the gun shops in suburban Lyons and Oak Forest — argued that they were immune from the claims under the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, Walker noted in his order.