Anti-gun lawmakers and organizations are always looking for a way to blame the criminal use of firearms on the companies that manufactured the guns instead of the violent criminals who misuse those products for their ill-gotten gain. That’s why Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed into law the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) back in 2005.
Still, that hasn’t stopped many from trying to make whipping boys out of the gun makers, not the least of which is Glock, maker of some of the most reliable striker-fired pistols on the market for the past several decades. Recently, New York has targeted Glock in a lot of ways because criminals have learned to illegally modify their pistols to fire full-auto, instead of the normal one shot for each trigger pull (semi-auto).
The latest from the Empire State comes from Democrat State Sen. Zellnor Myrie and Democrat State Rep. Michaelle Solages, who have introduced legislation that would prohibit the future sale or manufacture of any handguns—specifically Glocks—that they say are “especially” easy to convert into “machine guns.”
At issue is the so-called “Glock switch,” which is decidedly misnamed since Glock doesn’t produce the “switches,” doesn’t sell the switches and doesn’t condone their use. The “Glock switch,” or “Glock auto-sear,” is a piece of metal or plastic that can be used to illegally convert Glock pistols to fire full-auto. The switch works by applying force to the trigger bar to prevent it from limiting fire to one round of ammunition per trigger pull.
What Sen. Myrie, Rep. Solages and others don’t really want you to know is that auto-sears are already prohibited by federal law. Converting any firearm to fire fully automatic is a federal felony, and even possessing a “Glock switch” can result in a federal prison sentence of up to 10 years.
Consequently, what Sen. Myrie and Rep. Solages are trying to address is a violent criminal problem by blaming the manufacturer, not the felons who could already face hard time just by being caught with one in their possession. Still, it’s easier for them to pick on gun companies than their constituents, so the drumbeat of Glock bashing continues.
“Last year, the law was amended to require that firearm manufacturers take steps to ensure their handguns cannot be easily turned into machine guns with Glock switches,” Sen. Myrie and Rep. Solages wrote in a recent news release announcing their legislation. “The law makes clear that if they don’t take such steps, the manufacturers can be held accountable in court by those affected by modified weapons. Despite this, Glock has failed to address the lethality of the design of its handguns. In the face of the company’s continued inaction, it’s time to end the sale of these DIY machine guns in New York.”
The hypocrisy of such a statement is palpable. Criminals are already violating federal law by converting pistols to full auto. A better approach than targeting a storied firearms company is to arrest criminals who possess or use these devices, put them in jail, and clearly communicate that this will be the consequence for anyone else doing the same.
Ultimately, the attack on Glock might not end up mattering in the long run, as there is at least somewhat of a trend right now of judges ruling that regulating full-auto arms violates the Second Amendment. In August 2024, a federal judge in Wichita, Kansas, ruled that the federal law tightly regulating the ownership and transfer of full-auto firearms is unconstitutional under the 2022 Bruen decision. In January of this year, a U.S. district judge in Mississippi also ruled that the federal law effectively banning the sale and possession of newly produced or unregistered machine guns was unconstitutional.
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