Delaware Sues Glock Over Pistols Converted Into Machine Guns

Delaware Attorney General Kathleen Jennings announced a civil lawsuit Thursday against Glock, Inc. and Glock Ges.m.b.H. under the state's Keshall "KeKe" Anderson Safe Firearm Sales Act. The complaint alleges the company knowingly designed, marketed and sold handguns that can be easily converted into illegal machine guns using so-called "Glock switches," her office said. The state calls the case a landmark.

The design of Glock pistols lets them be turned quickly and cheaply into weapons that can fire up to 1,200 rounds per minute using inexpensive conversion devices, the attorney general's office says. The office alleges the company kept marketing the pistols to civilians even as police nationwide reported a surge in violence involving converted Glock handguns.

The complaint cites a rise in crimes involving switch-modified Glocks both nationwide and in Delaware, multiple seizures of converted Glocks in the state, and what the office describes as Glock marketing and social media content that glorified fully automatic fire. The state brings five causes of action, including violations of Delaware's firearm industry accountability statute and common-law public nuisance.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction barring Glock from distributing easily convertible pistols to civilians in Delaware, abatement of the public nuisance, and other relief including restitution and damages. It does not affect Glock sales to law enforcement, the office says. Switches and other devices that convert semi-automatic firearms into machine guns are illegal in Delaware.

In 2025, Jennings co-led national litigation against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives over its plan to return seized forced reset triggers to the state, and her office says the states won.