California and Illinois Attempting To Stop Glock Firearm Sales

You read that right—California and Illinois lawmakers are pushing bills to ban Glock pistols. Why? Because some criminals have illegally installed so-called “Glock switches” to convert them to full-auto fire.

These devices, also known as auto sears, are already federally banned, heavily prosecuted, and undeniably illegal under the National Firearms Act. But that’s not enough for anti-gun legislators. Instead of punishing criminals, they’re coming after law-abiding gun owners—again.

The logic behind these proposed bans is just as ridiculous as it sounds: Since some criminals have illegally modified Glock pistols, the solution must be to ban Glocks altogether.

In California, Assembly Bill 1127 seeks to outlaw the sale of Glock pistols and any other handgun that could potentially be converted to full-auto. Meanwhile, Illinois’ HB4045 is aiming for the same target. And you can bet other blue states are watching closely.

As Gun Owners of America National Director Mark Jones warned in a recent interview, this trend could spread.

“Our citizens need to be vigilant and not think it cannot happen here,” said Jones. “Colorado has shown us that with their transformation over a decade.”

Even in pro-gun states like Wyoming, gun owners are being warned not to get too comfortable. Elections have consequences, and the anti-gun crowd is playing the long game.

Glock pistols, like the overwhelming majority of modern handguns, are semi-automatic—one round fired per trigger pull. The “Glock switch” alters the pistol’s internal mechanism to make it fire fully automatic, which is illegal unless you own a properly registered machine gun manufactured before 1986 (and good luck affording one).

These devices are typically imported illegally from China and other black market sources. They’re unreliable, unsafe, and built with all the quality you’d expect from a sketchy ePacket shipment.

Not only are they illegal to possess under federal law, but installing one can seriously damage your firearm—or injure the user.

Yet instead of focusing on those criminals, lawmakers want to punish the millions of Americans who legally carry and depend on Glock handguns for self-defense.

The push to ban handguns like Glocks isn’t just unconstitutional—it’s already been ruled that way.

George Mocsary, director of the Firearms Research Center and professor at the University of Wyoming College of Law, pointed out that the Supreme Court’s 2008 Heller decision explicitly affirmed the individual right to own handguns.

“It’s just an effort by these states to harass the people who own these Glock handguns lawfully,” Mocsary said.

That precedent is crystal clear: You can’t ban handguns just because a few bad actors break the law. And trying to justify a ban based on the hypothetical that someone might commit a felony with an aftermarket part? That’s like banning pickup trucks because someone might use one to flee a robbery.

If these bills pass, don’t expect them to stop at Glock. Any pistol with a polymer frame and a modular fire control group could be next. Heck, even metal-framed classics could be targeted if someone finds a way to hack them.

“It certainly could impact travel,” said Jones. “Even if traveling with a reciprocal permit, you need to comply with the laws of the state where you go.”

Jones summed it up best: This isn’t about safety—it’s about control.

“Specifically, to these switches, it is already a federal felony to illegally convert a weapon to full auto,” he said. “This is already illegal, so more unconstitutional gun control isn’t the answer.”

These proposals aren’t just misguided—they’re proof that anti-gun legislators will never stop at regulating illegal behavior. Their real goal is to chip away at lawful gun ownership, piece by piece.