Update 10:35 a.m. This story has been updated.
Everytown and the City of Chicago have refiled the lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, adding three additional defendants: Glock Ges.m.b.H, the Austrian Glock entity, and two Chicago-area gun stores on Glock’s roster of preferred dealers. The original lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against Glock, Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of the Austrian gunmaker.
"The change of venue was due to the fact that federal courts require complete diversity of parties to have diversity jurisdiction," observed the National Shooting Sports Foundation. "It could also be viewed as a way for the City of Chicago and their gun control backers, Everytown for Gun Safety, to be shopping for a more amendable court."
The original story, below:
While Chicago's machine government and anti-gun groups made a big deal of filing a federal lawsuit against Glock four months ago, they made no statement when they pulled it this week.
In March, the City of Chicago and the Bloomberg-backed Everytown gun control group breathlessly announced a "first-of-its-kind lawsuit" against Glock, looking to take the international pistol maker to court over the fact that illegal auto sear switches can be added to the guns to make them select-fire.
This came while such unregistered switches under current law are in violation of the National Firearms Act even if they aren't installed on a pistol – and possession is often successfully charged and prosecuted by federal gun regulators.
"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," said Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a Democrat and member of Bloomberg's Mayors Against Illegal Guns organization when the lawsuit was filed.
However, the Mayor's office was less verbose this week when they dropped the case without explanation or statement, as observed by the pro-2A Firearms Policy Coalition.
It should be noted that lawmakers on Capitol Hill have had the case under the microscope for months, with House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) investigating the Biden Administration over potential collusion between the plaintiffs and the Oval Office, specifically the newly established White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. Comer sent letters to ATF Director Steve Dettlebach and OGVP Director Stefanie Feldman on June 14 and follow-up letters on July 19 requesting all documents and communication between those entities and Everytown.
Comer specifically questioned how Everytown President John Feinblatt knew of a supposedly closed-door meeting between White House officials and Glock representatives, in which Glock declined to alter its long-standing pistol design.
“Because this was a private meeting between Glock and the White House, Mr. Feinblatt seemed to have inside access to the White House meeting, which raises questions about collusion with your Office," said Comer in his June 14 letter to Feldman. "And rather than aggressively prosecuting criminals, government agencies are colluding with anti-gun interest groups to cripple a manufacturer who sells a legal product in a highly regulated sales market."
Can the lawsuit come back? As it was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice, the plaintiffs can always refile.
