Latest news with #EverytownLaw
CBS News
12-02-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Maryland leaders sue gun manufacturer Glock alleging company contributed to gun violence crisis
BALTIMORE -- Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott filed a lawsuit against major gun manufacturer Glock, alleging that the company violated the state's Gun Industry Accountability Act and contributed to the gun violence crisis. According to Mayor Scott, the city has seen an increase in Glock switches in the past few years. A switch is a device used to modify semiautomatic weapons, making them fully automatic. "This is a growing threat to safety," Mayor Scott said. "Those seeking to do harm in our communities are using these switches on easily modifiable Glock weapons to carry out criminal activity." Glock switches in Baltimore According to Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley, the department has seen a sharp increase in the recovery of modified Glocks with numbers nearly doubling from 2023 to 2024. In 2023, 35 Glock switches were recovered in Baltimore, and 65 were recovered in 2024, according to data from Baltimore Police. Commissioner Worley said 70% of arrest incidents where modified Glocks were recovered involved people who were prohibited from owning a firearm. Eric Tirschwell, the Executive Director of Everytown Law, said Glocks are the number one gun recovered from criminals in Baltimore and across the U.S. He alleges this is due to the ease of converting it into an automatic weapon. According to Mayor Scott, modified Glocks have been recovered during carjackings, drug deals and other violent crimes. The modified weapons are capable of firing 1,200 rounds per minute, according to AG Brown. "That's faster than the weapons of war that I used in the Army," the attorney general said. "ATF agents call it 'spray and pray' because once the trigger is pulled, there is no control, only carnage. Glock knows this, they've known for years." Lawsuit against Glock The lawsuit alleges that Glock uses social media and other online platforms to promote the auto capabilities and knows the weapons are being converted. According to the lawsuit, Glock has falsely claimed it cannot fix the problem. However, Tirschwell says the lawsuit includes several ways that Glock can modify its weapons to prevent the easy conversion. Through the lawsuit, leaders are demanding a court order that would ban Glock from manufacturing and selling its pistols in Maryland and force the company to implement reasonable safety measures. Leaders are also demanding the company pay restitution for its role in Maryland's gun violence crisis. "Glock could have designed its pistols to prevent auto sears [also known as switches] from working. They chose not to. That choice cost lives," AG Brown said. The attorney general said the lawsuit is the first to be filed under the state's Gun Industry Accountability Act which was passed in 2024. The law prohibits companies in the firearm industry from knowingly contributing to harm through the creation or sale of weapons. Similar lawsuits were filed by New Jersey and Minnesota in December 2024, CBS New York reported. Previous firearm industry lawsuit The lawsuit against Glock comes one year after the city reached a $1.2 million settlement with Polymer80 Inc., a manufacturer of untraceable ghost guns. The city's lawsuit accused the company of violating the Maryland Consumer Protection Act and intentionally undermining firearms laws by manufacturing and selling ghost gun kits and parts to buyers without background checks. The settlement set several demands, including:
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
US court axes handgun sales ban to adults under 21
A conservative US appeals court ruled on Thursday that a law banning the sale of handguns by federally licensed firearms dealers to adults under the age of 21 is unconstitutional. Federal law prohibits Federal Firearms Licensees from selling handguns to persons between the ages of 18 to 21, although parents can buy them for their children or they can purchase them themselves in private sales or at gun shows. While Americans under the age of 21 cannot currently purchase a handgun from a federally licensed dealer, they can buy a rifle or shotgun. In its ruling, the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals said the law passed by Congress in 1968 banning handgun sales by licensed dealers to adults under the age of 21 violated the Second Amendment to the US Constitution. "The operative clause of the Second Amendment states that 'the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed,'" a three-judge appeals court panel said. "There are no age or maturity restrictions in the plain text of the Amendment, as there are in other constitutional provisions" such as the requirement that members of the US House of Representatives be at least 25 years old, they said. "This suggests that the Second Amendment lacks a minimum age requirement," they said. "Ultimately, the text of the Second Amendment includes eighteen- to twenty-year-old individuals among 'the people' whose right to keep and bear arms is protected." The law was challenged by three nonprofit gun rights groups -- the Firearms Policy Coalition, the Second Amendment Foundation and the Louisiana Shooting Club -- along with several individuals between the ages of 18 and 21. Everytown Law, a gun violence prevention organization, denounced the ruling, calling it "reckless and unfounded." "The law that prohibits dealers from selling handguns to those under twenty-one is both constitutional and crucial for public safety," said Janet Carter, senior director of issues and appeals at Everytown Law. "Firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teens, and 18-to-20-year-olds commit gun homicides at triple the rate of adults 21 and over, according to FBI statistics," Carter said, adding she hopes the federal government will contest Thursday's decision. The Supreme Court, in June of last year, upheld a federal law prohibiting domestic abusers from possessing a firearm, reversing a ruling by the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals which had said the restriction was unconstitutional. cl/md
