Minnesota is suing Glock, saying the company has known about switches — which convert semi-automatic handguns into fully automatic handguns — for decades and has not made any design changes to discourage their use.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says his office is suing Georgia-based weapon manufacturer Glock Inc. for turning a "blind eye, again and again" to the carnage in recent years connected to tiny "switch" devices that can easily convert the company's semi-automatic handguns into fully-automatic machine guns.

New Jersey and Minnesota sued Glock on Thursday, calling on the gunmaker to stop selling firearms that can be adapted with dime-sized switches to fire up to 1,200 rounds a minute