Chicago believes it’s latched onto the solution to its escalating violent crime problem.
This week the Windy City filed a lawsuit against Glock, one of America’s most popular handgun manufacturers.
Using the same flawed logic, maybe they can sue Ford Motor Company next week to go after those drunk drivers.
The city alleges in its complaint that switches are available to make Glocks easily convertible to fully automatic fire, according to a news release from Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office.
"The lawsuit alleges that Glock unreasonably endangers Chicagoans by manufacturing and selling in the Chicago civilian market semiautomatic pistols that can easily be converted to illegal machine guns with an auto sear - a cheap, small device commonly known as a 'Glock switch,'" the release said, according to Chicago ABC 7 News.
Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit gun control advocacy group, announced that they joined in the lawsuit filed Tuesday.
"Today @Everytown Law + the city of Chicago announced a historic lawsuit against @GLOCKInc to hold them accountable for the unconscionable decision to continue selling its easily modified pistols even though it could fix the problem.
"By refusing to do so, it is exacerbating gun violence in Chicago," said John Feinblatt, Everytown president on Twitter/X.
"Federal officials recently contacted Glock to discuss implementing new ways to modify Glock pistols to make it harder for Glock switches to be installed.
"Rather than help, Glock has falsely insisted there is nothing they can do," he added.
"Can & Co" podcaster Cam Edwards, who’s also an editor at Bearing Arms, a popular Second Amendment news and opinion site, suggested that this lawsuit could be a first step to a government declaration that some or even all semi-automatic guns can be converted to fully automatic weapons, making them unavailable to the general public.
"Note what Feinblatt said in his post on X about federal officials 'recently' talking to Glock about modifying its pistols," he said.
"That suggests that the ATF is already actively looking into reclassifying at least some semi-automatic handguns as ‘machine guns'."
Most firearms sold today are semi-automatic, meaning that they fire one round each time the trigger is pulled.
If they were to be reclassified as fully automatic weapons, which are not readily available to the general public, it would send the industry into a tailspin.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation is America’s premier trade association for the firearms industry.
Larry Keane, its senior vice president and general counsel, thought it conceivable that the lawsuit may have been hatched by the Biden administration, with the help of Rob Wilcox, former Everytown chief lobbyist.
"They [Glock] are being attacked by this lawsuit orchestrated through, and I will say this word, a conspiracy between the White House and Everytown and the city of Chicago to attack Glock and try to blame them for this criminal conduct," he told Edwards in a podcast this week. "It is ridiculous, and Congress needs to investigate this illegal conspiracy by Rob Wilcox, the White House, Everytown, and the city of Chicago."
He added that the Biden White House "is the most hostile, anti-gun administration in the history of America. Far worse than anything Obama did. Far worse than anything Clinton did. This is a whole-of-government attack against our Second Amendment rights."
But even if Chicago did this on its own, its approach to violent crime has been wrongheaded for years.
Last August Alderwoman Maria Hadden proposed to make it illegal to shoot firearms in the city between 9am and 9pm, but during the other 12 hours fire at will.
When Chicagoans thought former Mayor Lori Lightfoot was a train wreck, they replaced her with Johnson — who made Lightfoot look like Ronald Reagan by comparison.
At about the same time Hadden called for a daily shooting timeout, Johnson cautioned reporters to avoid using the word "mob" to describe gangs of felons, and suggested "gathering" might be better. If we don’t hurt their feelings maybe they’ll end their lawbreaking ways.
And while Lightfoot eliminated 614 officers from the Chicago Police Department, Johnson’s budget slashed another 833 as of January, compounding the problem of inadequate police protection.
To top it off, last month Johnson opted not to renew the city’s contract to lease ShotSpotter, an audio surveillance system that alerts law enforcement to the location of gunshots fired within the city.
While the system was an important law enforcement tool by targeting gunshots, Johnson thought it unfairly targeted minorities.
A government’s ultimate responsibility is to protect the citizens to whom it owes an allegiance. That includes giving them the means to protect themselves — not taking it away.
But Chicago’s answer to its crime problem is to cut down its police force, get rid of its high-tech law enforcement tools, and sue Glock, a lawful company manufacturing a lawful product for law-abiding citizens to use for self-protection.
And Johnson also wonders why Chicagoans are fleeing the city.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.
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