Illinois
Chicago sues gunmaker Glock over conversions to machine guns
CHICAGO (AP) — The city of Chicago sued Glock Inc. on Tuesday, alleging the handgun manufacturer is facilitating the proliferation of illegal machine guns that can fire as many as 1,200 rounds per minute on the streets of the city.
The lawsuit alleges Glock unreasonably endangers Chicagoans by manufacturing and selling 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 switches are the size of a quarter and are easily purchased illegally online for around $20 or manufactured at home using a 3D printer.
The complaint filed in Cook County Circuit Court is the first to use Illinois’s new Firearms Industry Responsibility Act, passed and signed into law in 2023 to hold gun companies accountable for conduct that endangers the public.
The lawsuit states police in Chicago have recovered over 1,100 Glocks that have been converted into illegal machine guns in the last two years in connection with homicides, assaults, kidnappings, carjackings and other crimes.
The lawsuit alleges that Glock knows it could fix the problem but refuses to do so and seeks a court order requiring the company to stop selling guns to people in Chicago. It also seeks unspecified damages.
“The City of Chicago is encountering a deadly new frontier in the gun violence plaguing our communities because of the increase of fully automatic Glocks on our streets,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a news release.
“Selling firearms that can so easily be converted into automatic weapons makes heinous acts even more deadly, so we are doing everything we can in collaboration with others committed to ending gun violence to hold Glock accountable for putting profits over public safety,” Johnson said.
Joining the city in the lawsuit is Everytown Law, a Washington-based firm that seeks to advance gun safety laws in the courts.
“Right now, anyone in the United States with $20 and a screwdriver can convert their Glock pistol into an illegal machine gun in just a few minutes,” said Eric Tirschwell, executive director of Everytown Law.
Minnesota
Court: Pharmacist discriminated against woman in denying emergency contraception
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Court of Appeals has ruled that a pharmacist who refused to provide emergency contraceptives to a customer because of his personal beliefs engaged in discrimination.
The three-judge panel ruled Monday that pharmacist George Badeaux engaged in business discrimination in 2019 when he wouldn’t fill a prescription for an emergency contraception that is used to stop a pregnancy before it starts. The customer seeking the prescription said she then traveled about 100 miles (160 kilometers) round trip from the pharmacy in McGregor to another pharmacy in Brainerd, where she filled the prescription.
The customer, Andrea Anderson, later filed a lawsuit claiming discrimination under Minnesota’s Human Rights Act.
“Badeaux’s refusal to dispense emergency contraception because it may interfere with a pregnancy is sex discrimination,” Judge Jeanne Cochran wrote in the ruling.
The appeals court decision means the case will either be appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court or returned to district court, where a jury in 2022 found the pharmacist had not discriminated but that Anderson was owed $25,000 because of emotional harm. However, Anderson couldn’t collect that money because there was no finding of discrimination.
Jess Braverman — an attorney for Anderson and the legal director of Gender Justice, an advocacy organization for gender equity — said this may be the first ruling in the country to find that a refusal to dispense emergency contraception is a form of sex discrimination. Alison Tanner, senior litigation counsel for reproductive rights and health at the National Women’s Law Center, agreed.
Braverman said the ruling made clear to Minnesota businesses “that you can’t just turn away patients in need of reproductive health care.”
Rory Gray, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian advocacy group, represented Badeaux and criticized the decision.
“As a devout Christian, George believes every human life has value. As such, George cannot provide or facilitate the use of any potential abortion-causing drugs,” Gray said in a statement. “The court failed to uphold George’s constitutionally protected freedom to act consistent with his beliefs while at work.”
Anderson tried unsuccessfully to buy the emergency contraception, called Ella, at the drug store. The store previously was owned by Aitkin Pharmacy Services, and an attorney for the business did not immediately respond to requests for comment by phone and email.
Gender Justice appealed the jury’s ruling last year, arguing that Badeaux discriminated against Anderson on the basis of her sex when he refused to fill her prescription for a drug that is only prescribed to women.
In 2015, Badeaux refused to dispense Plan B, a different type of emergency contraception, to a woman, resulting in a complaint to the pharmacy’s owner, the judges wrote. The owner and Badeaux then developed a plan for dispensing emergency contraception, which involved getting another pharmacist to come in to fill the prescription the same day or the next day, or transferring the prescription elsewhere.
Tanner, at the National Women’s Law Center, said the Monday ruling “is important because there should be no reason that folks who are in need of emergency contraception are delayed access to that care. It is a time-sensitive medication.”
Since the U.S. Supreme Court ended constitutional protections for abortion in 2022, some states have expanded access to emergency contraceptives and birth control while other states have restricted access and enacted abortion bans.
Dozens of universities across the country now carry emergency contraceptives in vending machines, according to the American Society for Emergency Contraception. Some, such as the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma, are in states where abortion is largely banned.
Although Minnesota has protected abortion access, neighboring states have banned or severely restricted the procedure.
Chicago sues gunmaker Glock over conversions to machine guns
CHICAGO (AP) — The city of Chicago sued Glock Inc. on Tuesday, alleging the handgun manufacturer is facilitating the proliferation of illegal machine guns that can fire as many as 1,200 rounds per minute on the streets of the city.
The lawsuit alleges Glock unreasonably endangers Chicagoans by manufacturing and selling 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 switches are the size of a quarter and are easily purchased illegally online for around $20 or manufactured at home using a 3D printer.
The complaint filed in Cook County Circuit Court is the first to use Illinois’s new Firearms Industry Responsibility Act, passed and signed into law in 2023 to hold gun companies accountable for conduct that endangers the public.
The lawsuit states police in Chicago have recovered over 1,100 Glocks that have been converted into illegal machine guns in the last two years in connection with homicides, assaults, kidnappings, carjackings and other crimes.
The lawsuit alleges that Glock knows it could fix the problem but refuses to do so and seeks a court order requiring the company to stop selling guns to people in Chicago. It also seeks unspecified damages.
“The City of Chicago is encountering a deadly new frontier in the gun violence plaguing our communities because of the increase of fully automatic Glocks on our streets,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a news release.
“Selling firearms that can so easily be converted into automatic weapons makes heinous acts even more deadly, so we are doing everything we can in collaboration with others committed to ending gun violence to hold Glock accountable for putting profits over public safety,” Johnson said.
Joining the city in the lawsuit is Everytown Law, a Washington-based firm that seeks to advance gun safety laws in the courts.
“Right now, anyone in the United States with $20 and a screwdriver can convert their Glock pistol into an illegal machine gun in just a few minutes,” said Eric Tirschwell, executive director of Everytown Law.
Minnesota
Court: Pharmacist discriminated against woman in denying emergency contraception
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Court of Appeals has ruled that a pharmacist who refused to provide emergency contraceptives to a customer because of his personal beliefs engaged in discrimination.
The three-judge panel ruled Monday that pharmacist George Badeaux engaged in business discrimination in 2019 when he wouldn’t fill a prescription for an emergency contraception that is used to stop a pregnancy before it starts. The customer seeking the prescription said she then traveled about 100 miles (160 kilometers) round trip from the pharmacy in McGregor to another pharmacy in Brainerd, where she filled the prescription.
The customer, Andrea Anderson, later filed a lawsuit claiming discrimination under Minnesota’s Human Rights Act.
“Badeaux’s refusal to dispense emergency contraception because it may interfere with a pregnancy is sex discrimination,” Judge Jeanne Cochran wrote in the ruling.
The appeals court decision means the case will either be appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court or returned to district court, where a jury in 2022 found the pharmacist had not discriminated but that Anderson was owed $25,000 because of emotional harm. However, Anderson couldn’t collect that money because there was no finding of discrimination.
Jess Braverman — an attorney for Anderson and the legal director of Gender Justice, an advocacy organization for gender equity — said this may be the first ruling in the country to find that a refusal to dispense emergency contraception is a form of sex discrimination. Alison Tanner, senior litigation counsel for reproductive rights and health at the National Women’s Law Center, agreed.
Braverman said the ruling made clear to Minnesota businesses “that you can’t just turn away patients in need of reproductive health care.”
Rory Gray, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian advocacy group, represented Badeaux and criticized the decision.
“As a devout Christian, George believes every human life has value. As such, George cannot provide or facilitate the use of any potential abortion-causing drugs,” Gray said in a statement. “The court failed to uphold George’s constitutionally protected freedom to act consistent with his beliefs while at work.”
Anderson tried unsuccessfully to buy the emergency contraception, called Ella, at the drug store. The store previously was owned by Aitkin Pharmacy Services, and an attorney for the business did not immediately respond to requests for comment by phone and email.
Gender Justice appealed the jury’s ruling last year, arguing that Badeaux discriminated against Anderson on the basis of her sex when he refused to fill her prescription for a drug that is only prescribed to women.
In 2015, Badeaux refused to dispense Plan B, a different type of emergency contraception, to a woman, resulting in a complaint to the pharmacy’s owner, the judges wrote. The owner and Badeaux then developed a plan for dispensing emergency contraception, which involved getting another pharmacist to come in to fill the prescription the same day or the next day, or transferring the prescription elsewhere.
Tanner, at the National Women’s Law Center, said the Monday ruling “is important because there should be no reason that folks who are in need of emergency contraception are delayed access to that care. It is a time-sensitive medication.”
Since the U.S. Supreme Court ended constitutional protections for abortion in 2022, some states have expanded access to emergency contraceptives and birth control while other states have restricted access and enacted abortion bans.
Dozens of universities across the country now carry emergency contraceptives in vending machines, according to the American Society for Emergency Contraception. Some, such as the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma, are in states where abortion is largely banned.
Although Minnesota has protected abortion access, neighboring states have banned or severely restricted the procedure.
