Maryland
Baltimore sues Glock over handguns that can be converted to automatic weapons
BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore is suing gunmaker Glock over design features that allow its handguns to be easily modified to become fully automatic weapons, which enables criminals to inflict more damage and makes the city more dangerous, attorneys argue in a complaint filed Wednesday.
The lawsuit follows similar cases brought against Glock in Chicago, Minnesota and New Jersey. They accuse the company of failing to protect the public by selling firearms that can be adapted with dime-sized switches to spray continuous gunfire — up to 1,200 rounds per minute — instead of firing one bullet each time the trigger is pulled.
"That's faster than the weapons of war that I used in the Army," Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said during a news conference Wednesday morning announcing it. "ATF agents call it 'spray and pray' because once the trigger is pulled, there's no control — only carnage."
The state of Maryland joined the city of Baltimore as a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
Often referred to as Glock switches or auto sears, the conversion devices can be bought for about $20 or 3D-printed. They've received heightened attention in recent years because they're increasingly turning up at crime scenes.
Glock isn't the only gunmaker whose weapons can be adapted with switches, but critics say its handguns are among the easiest to convert. With rare exceptions, federal law prohibits the sale and possession of machine guns.
"Glock could have designed its pistols to prevent auto sears from working. They chose not to. That choice cost lives," Brown said.
Glock didn't respond to a Wednesday email seeking comment, and it hasn't responded to previous AP requests for comment on lawsuits over the switches. But a gun industry group has condemned the New Jersey and Minnesota lawsuits as frivolous claims that abuse the judicial system and disregard federal law.
A report last year by the anti-violence organization Everytown for Gun Safety said modified Glocks are often used in crimes. And the company has long been aware that easy conversion is a selling point, said Eric Tirschwell, executive director of Everytown Law, which represents the plaintiffs in the Maryland lawsuit.
The brand is perhaps best known for its popularity among law enforcement officers, who almost exclusively carry Glock handguns. But Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said the recent proliferation of Glock switches means his officers increasingly find themselves "outmatched by criminals."
Baltimore police recovered 65 modified Glocks in 2024, compared to 35 the previous year, officials said. Roughly half the people arrested with modified Glocks since the beginning of 2023 were under 21 years old, according to the suit. The complaint alleges that Glock switches are adding to a culture of violence among young men across Baltimore.
Filed in state court in Baltimore, the lawsuit accuses Glock of violating Maryland's public nuisance laws. It seeks an injunction preventing the sale of certain firearms in Maryland, a court order demanding safety measures and restitution payments that could contribute to anti-violence programs.
The Maryland General Assembly passed a law last year allowing for civil action against members of the firearm industry who fail to meet minimum standards to prevent harm. Another bill banned the conversion devices.
Baltimore leaders also sued the ghost gun manufacturer Polymer80, which agreed to stop selling its untraceable, unassembled firearms to Maryland residents under a settlement announced last year. The Nevada-based company later shut down after facing a deluge of lawsuits.
Baltimore has recently experienced significant reductions in gun violence that experts attribute to robust anti-violence programs, improvements in policing and pandemic recovery, among other factors. But Mayor Brandon Scott said his administration is "mobilizing every resource at our disposal" to continue those positive trends, including civil litigation.
Wisconsin
State high court won't hear case seeking to overturn 2011 anti-union law
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court declined on Wednesday to hear a case that seeks to restore collective bargaining rights lost in 2011 to tens of thousands of teachers, nurses and other public workers.
The court's decision means the case must first go through a lower appeals court before it will likely end up before the state Supreme Court.
Seven unions representing teachers and other public workers in Wisconsin filed the lawsuit seeking to overturn the anti-union 2011 law, known as Act 10. The law had withstood numerous legal challenges before a Dane
County circuit court judge in December found the bulk of it to be unconstitutional, setting up the appeal to the state Supreme Court.
The Act 10 law effectively ended collective bargaining for most public unions by allowing them to bargain solely over base wage increases no greater than inflation. It also disallowed the automatic withdrawal of union dues,
required annual recertification votes for unions, and forced public workers to pay more for health insurance and retirement benefits.
Dane County Circuit Judge Jacob Frost in December ruled that the law violates equal protection guarantees in the Wisconsin Constitution by dividing public employees into "general" and "public safety" employees. Under the ruling, all public sector workers who lost their collective bargaining power would have it restored to what was in place before 2011.
The judge put the ruling on hold pending the appeal.
The law's introduction in 2011 spurred massive protests that stretched on for weeks. It made Wisconsin the center of a national fight over union rights, catapulted then-Gov. Scott Walker onto the national stage, sparked an unsuccessful recall campaign and laid the groundwork for Walker's failed 2016 presidential bid.
The law's adoption led to a dramatic decrease in union membership across the state. The nonpartisan Wisconsin Policy Forum said in a 2022 analysis that since 2000, Wisconsin had the largest decline in the proportion of its workforce that is unionized.
In 2015, the GOP-controlled Wisconsin Legislature approved a right-to-work law that limited the power of private-sector unions.
If the lawsuit is successful, all public sector workers who lost their collective bargaining power will have it restored. They would be treated the same as the police, firefighter and other public safety unions who remain exempt.
Supporters of the law have said it gave local governments more control over workers and the powers they needed to cut costs. Repealing the law, which allowed schools and local governments to raise money through higher employee contributions for benefits, would bankrupt those entities, backers of Act 10 have argued.
Democratic opponents argue that the law has hurt schools and other government agencies by taking away the ability of employees to collectively bargain for their pay and working conditions.
Public sector unions that brought the lawsuit are the Abbotsford Education Association; the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Locals 47 and 1215; the Beaver Dam Education Association; SEIU Wisconsin; the Teaching Assistants' Association Local 3220 and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 695.
Washington
ACLU sues for access to migrants flown to Guantanamo
WASHINGTON (AP) — Civil rights attorneys sued the Trump administration on Wednesday to gain access to detained migrants who they say have been flown to Guantanamo Bay and held there without being able to consult lawyers or speak to relatives.
The federal lawsuit, filed in Washington, D.C., and backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, says this is the first time in U.S. history that the government has detained non-citizens on civil immigration charges at the U.S. naval base in Cuba.
"And it is holding them incommunicado, without access to attorneys, family, or the outside world," the lawsuit says.
The Department of Homeland Security, which is among the agencies sued, says there is a way for detainees to reach lawyers by telephone.
For decades, the naval base was primarily used to detain foreigners associated with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. More than 50 detained migrants were transferred there this month and "effectively disappeared into a black box," the lawsuit says.
"This isolation is no coincidence. Guantanamo is home to one of the most notorious prisons in the world, used when the U.S. government has attempted to operate in secret, without legal constraint or accountability," the suit says.
The lawsuit's plaintiffs include relatives of three immigrants from Venezuela who were sent to Guantanamo from immigration detention facilities in Texas. The suit accuses government officials of violating their constitutional rights to due process and free speech.
The plaintiffs' attorneys are seeking a court order allowing them to meet with the detainees. They also want an order requiring officials to provide the location of a detainee within 24 hours of their transfer to Guantanamo.
The first U.S. military flight deporting migrants from the U.S. to Guantanamo landed in Cuba on Feb. 4, according to a U.S. official. It was the first step in an expected surge in the number of migrants sent to the U.S. base.
President Donald Trump has said Guantanamo has the capacity to hold as many as 30,000 people. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was assigned to Guantanamo when he was on active duty, has called it a "perfect place" to house migrants.
Approximately 300 service members are supporting the detention operations at Guantanamo. That number is expected to fluctuate.
Trump has vowed to deport millions of the estimated 11.7 million people in the U.S. illegally. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Feb. 5 that more than 8,000 people had been arrested in immigration enforcement actions since Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration.
The lawsuit's plaintiffs also include four advocacy groups: Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, American Gateways and Americans for Immigrant Justice.
They sued the Defense Department, the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and their respective department secretaries. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its acting director also are named as defendants.
"It's troubling enough that we are even sending immigrants from the U.S. to Guantanamo, but it's beyond the pale that we are holding them incommunicado, without access to attorneys, family or the outside world," ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said in a statement.
Attorneys from the Center for Constitutional Rights and the International Refugee Assistance Project also represent the plaintiffs.
Baltimore sues Glock over handguns that can be converted to automatic weapons
BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore is suing gunmaker Glock over design features that allow its handguns to be easily modified to become fully automatic weapons, which enables criminals to inflict more damage and makes the city more dangerous, attorneys argue in a complaint filed Wednesday.
The lawsuit follows similar cases brought against Glock in Chicago, Minnesota and New Jersey. They accuse the company of failing to protect the public by selling firearms that can be adapted with dime-sized switches to spray continuous gunfire — up to 1,200 rounds per minute — instead of firing one bullet each time the trigger is pulled.
"That's faster than the weapons of war that I used in the Army," Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said during a news conference Wednesday morning announcing it. "ATF agents call it 'spray and pray' because once the trigger is pulled, there's no control — only carnage."
The state of Maryland joined the city of Baltimore as a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
Often referred to as Glock switches or auto sears, the conversion devices can be bought for about $20 or 3D-printed. They've received heightened attention in recent years because they're increasingly turning up at crime scenes.
Glock isn't the only gunmaker whose weapons can be adapted with switches, but critics say its handguns are among the easiest to convert. With rare exceptions, federal law prohibits the sale and possession of machine guns.
"Glock could have designed its pistols to prevent auto sears from working. They chose not to. That choice cost lives," Brown said.
Glock didn't respond to a Wednesday email seeking comment, and it hasn't responded to previous AP requests for comment on lawsuits over the switches. But a gun industry group has condemned the New Jersey and Minnesota lawsuits as frivolous claims that abuse the judicial system and disregard federal law.
A report last year by the anti-violence organization Everytown for Gun Safety said modified Glocks are often used in crimes. And the company has long been aware that easy conversion is a selling point, said Eric Tirschwell, executive director of Everytown Law, which represents the plaintiffs in the Maryland lawsuit.
The brand is perhaps best known for its popularity among law enforcement officers, who almost exclusively carry Glock handguns. But Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said the recent proliferation of Glock switches means his officers increasingly find themselves "outmatched by criminals."
Baltimore police recovered 65 modified Glocks in 2024, compared to 35 the previous year, officials said. Roughly half the people arrested with modified Glocks since the beginning of 2023 were under 21 years old, according to the suit. The complaint alleges that Glock switches are adding to a culture of violence among young men across Baltimore.
Filed in state court in Baltimore, the lawsuit accuses Glock of violating Maryland's public nuisance laws. It seeks an injunction preventing the sale of certain firearms in Maryland, a court order demanding safety measures and restitution payments that could contribute to anti-violence programs.
The Maryland General Assembly passed a law last year allowing for civil action against members of the firearm industry who fail to meet minimum standards to prevent harm. Another bill banned the conversion devices.
Baltimore leaders also sued the ghost gun manufacturer Polymer80, which agreed to stop selling its untraceable, unassembled firearms to Maryland residents under a settlement announced last year. The Nevada-based company later shut down after facing a deluge of lawsuits.
Baltimore has recently experienced significant reductions in gun violence that experts attribute to robust anti-violence programs, improvements in policing and pandemic recovery, among other factors. But Mayor Brandon Scott said his administration is "mobilizing every resource at our disposal" to continue those positive trends, including civil litigation.
Wisconsin
State high court won't hear case seeking to overturn 2011 anti-union law
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court declined on Wednesday to hear a case that seeks to restore collective bargaining rights lost in 2011 to tens of thousands of teachers, nurses and other public workers.
The court's decision means the case must first go through a lower appeals court before it will likely end up before the state Supreme Court.
Seven unions representing teachers and other public workers in Wisconsin filed the lawsuit seeking to overturn the anti-union 2011 law, known as Act 10. The law had withstood numerous legal challenges before a Dane
County circuit court judge in December found the bulk of it to be unconstitutional, setting up the appeal to the state Supreme Court.
The Act 10 law effectively ended collective bargaining for most public unions by allowing them to bargain solely over base wage increases no greater than inflation. It also disallowed the automatic withdrawal of union dues,
required annual recertification votes for unions, and forced public workers to pay more for health insurance and retirement benefits.
Dane County Circuit Judge Jacob Frost in December ruled that the law violates equal protection guarantees in the Wisconsin Constitution by dividing public employees into "general" and "public safety" employees. Under the ruling, all public sector workers who lost their collective bargaining power would have it restored to what was in place before 2011.
The judge put the ruling on hold pending the appeal.
The law's introduction in 2011 spurred massive protests that stretched on for weeks. It made Wisconsin the center of a national fight over union rights, catapulted then-Gov. Scott Walker onto the national stage, sparked an unsuccessful recall campaign and laid the groundwork for Walker's failed 2016 presidential bid.
The law's adoption led to a dramatic decrease in union membership across the state. The nonpartisan Wisconsin Policy Forum said in a 2022 analysis that since 2000, Wisconsin had the largest decline in the proportion of its workforce that is unionized.
In 2015, the GOP-controlled Wisconsin Legislature approved a right-to-work law that limited the power of private-sector unions.
If the lawsuit is successful, all public sector workers who lost their collective bargaining power will have it restored. They would be treated the same as the police, firefighter and other public safety unions who remain exempt.
Supporters of the law have said it gave local governments more control over workers and the powers they needed to cut costs. Repealing the law, which allowed schools and local governments to raise money through higher employee contributions for benefits, would bankrupt those entities, backers of Act 10 have argued.
Democratic opponents argue that the law has hurt schools and other government agencies by taking away the ability of employees to collectively bargain for their pay and working conditions.
Public sector unions that brought the lawsuit are the Abbotsford Education Association; the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Locals 47 and 1215; the Beaver Dam Education Association; SEIU Wisconsin; the Teaching Assistants' Association Local 3220 and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 695.
Washington
ACLU sues for access to migrants flown to Guantanamo
WASHINGTON (AP) — Civil rights attorneys sued the Trump administration on Wednesday to gain access to detained migrants who they say have been flown to Guantanamo Bay and held there without being able to consult lawyers or speak to relatives.
The federal lawsuit, filed in Washington, D.C., and backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, says this is the first time in U.S. history that the government has detained non-citizens on civil immigration charges at the U.S. naval base in Cuba.
"And it is holding them incommunicado, without access to attorneys, family, or the outside world," the lawsuit says.
The Department of Homeland Security, which is among the agencies sued, says there is a way for detainees to reach lawyers by telephone.
For decades, the naval base was primarily used to detain foreigners associated with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. More than 50 detained migrants were transferred there this month and "effectively disappeared into a black box," the lawsuit says.
"This isolation is no coincidence. Guantanamo is home to one of the most notorious prisons in the world, used when the U.S. government has attempted to operate in secret, without legal constraint or accountability," the suit says.
The lawsuit's plaintiffs include relatives of three immigrants from Venezuela who were sent to Guantanamo from immigration detention facilities in Texas. The suit accuses government officials of violating their constitutional rights to due process and free speech.
The plaintiffs' attorneys are seeking a court order allowing them to meet with the detainees. They also want an order requiring officials to provide the location of a detainee within 24 hours of their transfer to Guantanamo.
The first U.S. military flight deporting migrants from the U.S. to Guantanamo landed in Cuba on Feb. 4, according to a U.S. official. It was the first step in an expected surge in the number of migrants sent to the U.S. base.
President Donald Trump has said Guantanamo has the capacity to hold as many as 30,000 people. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was assigned to Guantanamo when he was on active duty, has called it a "perfect place" to house migrants.
Approximately 300 service members are supporting the detention operations at Guantanamo. That number is expected to fluctuate.
Trump has vowed to deport millions of the estimated 11.7 million people in the U.S. illegally. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Feb. 5 that more than 8,000 people had been arrested in immigration enforcement actions since Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration.
The lawsuit's plaintiffs also include four advocacy groups: Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, American Gateways and Americans for Immigrant Justice.
They sued the Defense Department, the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and their respective department secretaries. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its acting director also are named as defendants.
"It's troubling enough that we are even sending immigrants from the U.S. to Guantanamo, but it's beyond the pale that we are holding them incommunicado, without access to attorneys, family or the outside world," ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said in a statement.
Attorneys from the Center for Constitutional Rights and the International Refugee Assistance Project also represent the plaintiffs.
