Dr. John Lott has a brand new op-ed at Townhall.
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Gun management advocates try a brand new tactic. As a substitute of making an attempt to ban all handguns, some Democrat states try to ban one of the crucial generally owned handguns – Glocks, which they declare may be simply transformed into machine weapons. However these weapons
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This week, Maryland’s Democrat Governor Wes Moore and Connecticut’s Democrat Governor Ned Lamont joined California by signing into legislation a ban on the manufacture, sale, buy, and switch of weapons with a cruciform set off bar. A cruciform set off bar is an important inner part of semi-automatic pistols—most notably Glock and Glock-style firearms. Named after its cross-like form, it connects the set off to the firing mechanism and performs an important function within the firearm’s security and discharge sequence.
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Legislatures in Illinois and New York are among the many states actively contemplating payments to ban these firearms.
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Lawsuits by the NRA and the Second Modification Basis have been instantly filed in opposition to Maryland’s new legislation. In landmark rulings beginning with the District of Columbia v. Heller, the U.S. Supreme Courtroom established that the Second Modification protects “bearable arms” which might be usually possessed by law-abiding residents for lawful functions. The Courtroom particularly contrasted these with “harmful and weird” weapons, stating that outright bans on common-use firearms (corresponding to handguns) are unconstitutional.
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New Jersey is now in a discovery course of to subpoena Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) throughout the state for information involving Glock pistol gross sales to New Jersey residents.
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Underneath a 1986 federal legislation, it’s already unlawful for strange civilians to fabricate or convert a firearm right into a machine gun. Twenty-six states have comparable legal guidelines. There isn’t a proof that law-abiding gun homeowners are changing their handguns, and even the advocates for these legal guidelines concentrate on solely the menace by prison gangs. Certainly, all 43 murders within the 20 U.S. assaults involving “Glock switches” that the Crime Prevention Analysis Middle—which I head—has recognized for the reason that starting of 2021 occurred throughout gang fights.
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Over 65% of police departments within the U.S. difficulty or authorize Glock handguns for officers. In 2025, Glock had three of the six hottest semi-automatic handguns offered in the USA, with Sig having two of the highest six.
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These states argue that Glock knowingly designed and marketed pistols that criminals can simply convert into unlawful machine weapons utilizing so-called “Glock switches.” They contend that Glock has identified about the issue for years, ignored repeated warnings from legislation enforcement, and nonetheless refused to revamp its pistols to make these conversions harder.
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Glock rejects the declare that its pistols are uniquely or unusually straightforward to transform. The corporate argues that its semiautomatic working system doesn’t differ basically from these utilized in many different fashionable semiautomatic pistols. Glock pistols use a reasonably standard short-recoil, locked-breech design frequent all through the handgun trade. Glock additionally maintains that criminals—not the producer—bear duty for illegally modifying firearms with already-prohibited conversion gadgets.
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Furthermore, a Glock swap creates a firing mechanism basically completely different from that of a real totally computerized machine gun. A military-style machine gun makes use of an built-in fire-control system particularly engineered for computerized hearth. In contrast, a Glock swap disrupts the pistol’s present trigger-bar and reset mechanism. The system forces the set off bar out of engagement and causes the pistol’s short-recoil motion to cycle uncontrollably. As soon as the set off is pulled, the firing continues till the gun exhausts its ammunition.
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That crude technique creates severe reliability and security issues. As a result of the swap bypasses the pistol’s regular timing and reset capabilities, the firearm can discharge earlier than the slide and chamber totally shut and lock. In consequence, the modification creates an actual threat of catastrophic malfunction, together with harm to the firearm and probably severe damage to the shooter.
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Widespread harm consists of a destroyed or blown-open journal, cracked or cut up receiver or higher, broken or lacking bolt, firing pin, extractor, ejector, working springs, and inventory.
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Flying brass shards or case fragments can slice pores and skin (palms, arms, face, cheek) or embed in tissue. Actual incidents embody a shooter’s thumb being sliced open “like a field cutter” with powder burns, or brass embedding in a shoulder inflicting bleeding. Fragments can strike the face or eyes.
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However others in addition to the shooter can be harmed. “The issue about that’s while you pull the set off you’ll be able to’t cease it, the gun, the bullets are going to go and what we’re seeing is younger folks and adults can’t management their gun. … ” warned Richland County, South Carolina Sheriff Leon Lott. “It’s possible you’ll hit loads of harmless folks chances are you’ll even hit those who’s in your crew as a result of you’ll be able to’t management that gun.”
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These legal guidelines don’t goal criminals who’re already breaking federal and state legal guidelines by illegally proudly owning and utilizing weapons, not to mention utilizing unlawful conversion gadgets; the legal guidelines are focusing on tens of millions of law-abiding Individuals who personal one of many nation’s commonest handguns. If courts permit states to ban Glocks as a result of criminals can illegally modify them, no semiautomatic firearm shall be secure from the identical argument. The true answer is to prosecute the gangs and criminals utilizing Glock switches—to not outlaw firearms that police and residents have relied on safely for many years.
John R Lott, Jr. “The Push by Democrats to Ban One of many Generally Owned Handguns within the US,” Townhall, Might 30, 2026.
