All that matters is that you can put an illegal full-auto switch on them.

Glock pistols are a popular choice for people committing gun crimes, in part because they can be easily converted into fully automatic weapons using a small device, according to a new report based on data from nearly three dozen U.S. cities.

Often called Glock switches or auto sears, the devices have received heightened attention in recent years because they’re increasingly turning up at crime scenes. They effectively turn semiautomatic weapons, which fire one bullet per trigger pull, into machine guns that can spray continuous gunfire.

Authorities believe the shooters who killed four people and injured 17 others in Birmingham, Alabama, last weekend were using conversion devices to make their guns more powerful. About 100 shell casings were recovered from the scene.

Well, that's an interesting claim. I'm sure whoever conducted the report did extensive research and doesn't have an ax to grind at all.

Oh, wait...they most definitely do.

A report by the anti-violence organization Everytown for Gun Safety says criminals often choose Glocks because they’re relatively cheap and easy to operate and modify. But the brand is perhaps best known for its popularity among law enforcement officers, who almost exclusively carry Glock handguns.

The report was released this week ahead of a conference Thursday in Baltimore hosted by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group that falls under Everytown’s umbrella. The organization called on Glock and other weapons manufacturers to take responsibility for their products and do more to prevent violence.

“We have to build that level of accountability for them as well,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said in an interview. “At some point, as a country, the sanctity of the lives of Americans has to begin to outweigh the sanctity of American guns.”

I won't say police almost exclusively carry Glocks, but they're definitely the leader in providing guns to law enforcement.

Yet let's talk about Everytown's claims regarding the guns.

Cheap

A Glock handgun costs around $500, give or take and depending on your area.

Maybe it's me, but that's not particularly cheap. It's not the most expensive, either, but it's probably mid-range as far as price goes. A Smith & Wesson M&P is around the same price, just $20 more, and something like a Canik is less expensive. 

So it's not overly cheap, despite Everytown's claims.

Easy to operate

I'm not sure what they mean by "easy to operate" because handguns aren't exactly tricky. They don't have an external safety, which might be what they're driving at. 

It could also be they asked someone at a gun store if Glocks were easy to operate and the person said they were because, well, they are. The same could be said of any handgun, though, especially something like a revolver which doesn't even have the trigger safety of a Glock, relying exclusively on the heavy double-action pull.

So, with those two out of the way and sort of illustrating how little they actually know about what they're talking about, we get to...

Easy to modify

OK, here we can say that yes, Glocks are apparently easy to illegally modify...if you have a special device you can't obtain lawfully. If you have that illegal item, you can drop it in and turn your Glock into a machine pistol.

But is this a selling point for criminals?

I'm unconvinced.

First, Glocks have been popular with criminal culture for decades, long before full-auto switches became a thing in most people's minds. Rappers have talked about them, Hollywood put them in the hands of fictional gangsters, and the criminal culture in the United States responded. That was their preferred firearm.

But criminals can't be overly picky, either.

We know that the ATF found most guns end up in criminal hands due to theft. In other words, they're not exactly shopping the local gun stores for exactly what they want. They're getting guns through chance more than anything.

"Then how are criminals getting Glocks so often?"

Well, probably because a lot of people buy Glocks of various models. They see law enforcement preferring them, see that they're affordable, look at how reliable they are and what kind of aftermarket support they have, then buy them for their own use.

So what's this really about?

Everytown is one of those groups suing Glock. It's in their interests to make it seem like Glock is somehow responsible, like they're the problem and should be shut down.

Honestly, I'm sick of people running these reports like they're serious, unbiased research. Everytown does these studies themselves, which means they go into it with a clear bias and they simply ignore any data that goes against their narrative. Maybe they rationalize it as noise or that they screwed up with the data, but it's not unbiased research just looking for truth.

And the media needs to stop pretending it is.