In order to ban many Glock semi-automatic pistols and some others, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed Assembly Bill 1127. This legislation is scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2026. Specifically, it provides that licensed firearms dealers “shall not sell, offer for sale, exchange, give, transfer, or deliver any semiautomatic machinegun-convertible pistol.”
Just after this legislation was signed, the NRA—along with the Firearms Policy Coalition, the Second Amendment Foundation, Poway Weapons & Gear and two NRA members—filed a lawsuit (Jaymes v. Bonta) challenging California’s new ban. The lawsuit argues that California’s ban on Glock-style handguns violates the Second Amendment, as the U.S. Supreme Court has held that “common” arms cannot be banned, and, moreover, that handguns cannot be categorically banned. California’s ban on many of the most popular handguns in America blatantly defies the Court’s precedent in D.C. v. Heller (2008).
Glock, meanwhile, announced it is discontinuing almost all of its current models. Instead, the Austrian pistol maker announced it would, soon begin shipping its new V series pistols. These would not be banned in California under this new law; they still, however, cannot be sold in California unless they somehow find their way onto the state’s very restrictive pistol roster. In the meantime, Glock has not been selling many guns in California, as only Gen3 Glocks are legal for sale in the state.
While some criminals have made and used illegal “Glock switches” that, if they work, can convert some semi-automatic Glock pistols to fire full auto, by banning “any semiautomatic machinegun-convertible pistol,” the state of California is infringing upon law-abiding citizens’ Second Amendment rights to own common firearms. And the state is attempting to punish manufacturers not for what the gun makers are doing, but rather for what third parties (in this case criminals) are doing. According to this unconstitutional law, if any enterprising criminal is able to find a way to make any legally sold semi-automatic firearm fire repeatedly with one trigger pull, then those guns will also be banned. This literally means that, in California, the criminals are in charge. Indeed, any rifle or shotgun whose barrel could be shortened with a hacksaw would seemingly be vulnerable to the same sort of “logic,” as “short-barreled” firearms also fall into a special class of regulation.
