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Ashley Whiteside: But first, over the years, lawsuits seeking compensation from gunmakers for the harms caused by their products have rarely succeeded. That’s because of special protections Congress has extended to the gun industry. But a handful of states and cities think that they have found a workaround. They’re seeking to exploit a wrinkle in federal law that was passed more than 20 years ago. And Philadelphia is at the forefront of this legal battle.

Block-by-block reporter Kevin Walker, who worked in the criminal justice system for more than 30 years, first as a prosecutor and then a public defender, has been following the case.

Kevin Walker: Eight years ago, Stanley Crawford’s son was shot. And he was killed while he stood on a porch in northeast Philadelphia. Since then, Crawford has worked to address the causes of gun violence in the city. He is motivated, he says, by the thought of his 19 grandchildren and his 11 great-grandchildren.

Stanley Crawford: I love my grandbabies. I love my family. I love my son. It’s the love that keeps me going and not giving up. Those who we say we love will pay the price for us not trying. You know, I wish we had a world where we didn’t have to have this weaponry.

Kevin Walker: After his son was killed, Crawford founded the Blackmail Community Council of Philadelphia, a grassroots organization that. Promotes safe neighborhoods by focusing on violence prevention, workforce development, and other initiatives. But Crawford knows that more is needed. The gun violence epidemic is complex, and it requires a multi-pronged approach, says Lydia First. First leads the special litigation unit at the city solicitor’s office.

Lydia Furst: Gun violence is a complicated problem. It continues to be a problem in Philadelphia, although it has improved a lot in the last couple of years. So I do want to acknowledge that. And I think that the solutions can also be multifaceted and complicated. I think civil litigation can be one piece of the puzzle.

Kevin Walker: In March, the city solicitor’s office filed a complaint against Glock, the manufacturer of popular guns that until recently could be quickly converted from semi-automatic to fully automatic weapons with the addition of tiny illegal devices known as switches. Switches, which can be purchased for less than $20, are override the gun’s normal trigger mechanism and allow a shooter to discharge as many as twenty bullets a second with a single trigger pull.

The result? The handgun becomes a machine gun. The city’s complaint alleges that Glock has mounted a deceptive marketing campaign. That campaign, the city says, Targets vulnerable consumers, mainly young men, by falsely representing that its converted handguns can be legally possessed for recreational use. According to the complaint, the gunmaker has boasted on social media that the only thing more fun than a Glock is a full auto Glock.

In an answer filed in early September, Glock denied wrongdoing. Its lawyers did not respond to requests for further comment. For at least the last two decades, lawsuits against the gun industry have fizzled. That’s largely because of something known as the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, a law backed by the NRA and passed by Congress in 2005. The law shields gun manufacturers from lawsuits seeking compensation for the misuse of their firearms by third parties.

But the industry’s fortunes may be changing. A handful of blue states and cities are seeking to exploit a section of the 2005 law that has lain dormant for nearly 20 years. Known as the Predicate Exception, it permits lawsuits for harms caused by a manufacturer’s direct violation of laws regulating the sale or marketing of firearms. According to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, in the last four years at least eleven states, all Democratic have passed standards of conduct for the gun industry.

If those standards are violated, an aggrieved party can sue under the predicate exception. Lydia first applauds this legal development.

Lydia Furst: We’re seeing, I think, a real change and some positive progress in civil litigation to hold the gun industry accountable.

Kevin Walker: In Philadelphia’s case, the city is claiming that Glock violated fair trade practices. This is say first, and she is careful to emphasize what the case is not about.

Lydia Furst: It’s not about preventing anybody from obtaining a firearm who wants one and is legally permitted to have one. It’s about some very shocking marketing tactics that were used by a company. I think Philadelphians, when they see some of this content that Glock has put out, There will be quite shocked.

Kevin Walker: The litigation against Glock comes at a difficult moment for gun control advocates. Just this summer, the third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Philadelphia, ruled that New Jersey’s long-standing ban on assault weapons violated the Second Amendment. And the United States Supreme Court, under Chief Justice John Roberts may extend that rationale nationwide in a case that will be argued this fall. But FIRST does not believe that the Second Amendment or the federal court’s expansive interpretation of the right to bear arms poses a threat to the city’s lawsuit.

Lydia Furst: Machine guns and fully automatic weapons are not protected by the Second Amendment. Amendment when it comes to civilians, so it’s not really something that we see as being relevant.

Kevin Walker: In the face of multiple lawsuits, Glock recently redesigned its handguns, making them more difficult to convert to automatic weapons. First welcomes the modifications, but she believes Glock had little choice.

Lydia Furst: With all this litigation that they’re facing, And the fact that they did finally have to make this change to their pistol, I think that kind of shows that they have a very big problem.

Kevin Walker: The Court of Common Pleas recently rebuffed the company’s attempt to short-circuit the litigation with a motion to dismiss. Now says First, the parties will move to the most time-consuming phase, known as pretrial discovery. The city is seeking civil penalties and an order requiring Glock to adopt marketing practices that accurately convey the dangers and the unlawful nature of fully automatic handguns and switches.

believes Philadelphia can prevail in its suit against Glock if people see the human costs of gun violence.

Stanley Crawford: Well, I think the lawsuit would make a difference if those who are going to make the decision would add some humanity in their observation of what’s being presented. My son was a human being, okay? When that human being, my son, was murdered, it did a rippling effect that’s still affecting us today.

Kevin Walker: For Crawford, litigation is important. But the real key is to provide hope and opportunity to the same young men to whom Glock is marketing its lethal products.

Stanley Crawford: You gotta create opportunities for people, and you gotta give some people something to live for and something not to kill for.

Kevin Walker: For Block My Block, this is Kevin Walker.

This story was broadcast as part of October 7, 2026 (Block by Block).