Maryland and the city of Baltimore sued Glock on Wednesday, seeking to force one of the country's largest gun sellers to take steps to prevent owners from modifying its products into automatic weapons resembling machine guns.

The Maryland Attorney General and mayor of Baltimore City filed a lawsuit against Glock, Inc. for continuing to sell handguns that can be converted into machine guns.

Baltimore is suing Glock over design features that allow its handguns to be easily modified to become fully automatic weapons.

It’s referred to as a “Glock switch,” which can turn a handgun with a 15-round magazine into much, much more. “A dime-sized device that turns a handgun [into] a weapon capable of firing 1,200 rounds per minute,

Baltimore officials have filed a lawsuit against firearms manufacturer Glock, demanding that the Austrian-owned company do more to prevent its weapons from being turned into machine guns. The effort targets Glock for selling semiautomatic pistols to Maryland civilians that can easily be converted into illegal weapons with an auto sear — a small device more commonly known as a

The auto sear, or “Glock switch,” converts a handgun into a weapon that fires 120 rounds a minute. The lawsuit wants Glock to reject such a capabiliity.

Maryland and Baltimore officials announced a lawsuit that alleges Glock makes and sells guns that are easily turned into illegal machine guns.