AP Notes Half of All States Have Unnecessary Gun Law

Full-auto switches are becoming a problem. I’m not convinced the problem is quite as bad as stated, but the numbers are growing, and unlike so-called ghost guns, law-abiding citizens don’t have an effective way to counter this criminal threat.

The switches are illegal at the federal level, of course, but when have pesky things like laws ever gotten in the way of a criminal looking to break the law?

According to the AP, though, state-level laws are increasing in numbers.

In New Mexico, police and prosecutors backed an effort to outlaw devices that convert pistols into machine guns. In Alabama, the governor made it a priority.

Lawmakers in both states — one led by Democrats, the other by Republicans — responded this year with new laws making so-called Glock switches illegal.

At least half of U.S. states now have similar laws prohibiting the possession of such devices, a list that has grown over the past decade as law enforcement officers have found more of the tiny yet powerful devices attached to guns.

States are mimicking federal law, which for for decades has generally prohibited machine guns and any parts that can transform semiautomatic weapons into automatic ones.

Now, they note that federal law is already in place, which is good.

But it takes them a little while to acknowledge something else. In fact, it’s way at the end of the article, which they know people are less likely to read:

The National Rifle Association notes U.S. attorneys already can prosecute people for misusing gun conversion devices without the need for state laws.

Gun Owners of America, another gun-rights group, contends people should have a Second Amendment right to own machine guns. State laws against machine gun conversation devices are “duplicative” and “pure virtue signaling,” said Aidan Johnston, federal affairs director for Gun Owners of America.

He said guns converted to fire automatically can have practical uses like eliminating large groups of feral hogs that are destroying land.

“Just because you put that on your firearm doesn’t mean that you are a violent criminal or that you necessarily are a dangerous person,” Johnston said.

This comes immediately after Everytown touted these state laws, which is interesting.

On one hand, the NRA got the final word in the debate, which is often something you see when the reporter’s bias leans that direction. On the other hand, it is the tail end of the article, which most people won’t even get to.

They also cite GOA as well as the NRA, while only citing Everytown from the anti-gun side, which is also interesting.

In fact, one could argue that this is a rare AP story that’s actually trying to be neutral.

Good for them, if so. I’m not holding my breath on that fact, though.

Still, let’s talk about these full-auto switches for a moment. Yes, they’re illegal. They cannot be purchased legally, and they actually undermine some past arguments regarding regulation. Some use to point to the National Firearms Act’s requirements for machine guns, coupled with the relative rarity of those guns being used in criminal actions in recent years, as proof that gun control works.

Now, though, common thugs are getting full-auto switches via the internet pretty easily, thus showing the truth about the NFA’s regulatory scheme.

Are the numbers of these things growing? Absolutely. It’s not surprising. They can buy them easily, import them from China in such a way that it largely seems to bypass customs, then easily attach them to their favorite Glocks or other firearms that will accept similar devices. Then they have all the firepower they could ask for.

Meanwhile, the law-abiding folks have no real answer.

Yes, machine guns are available, but they cost a lot more money and require a lot more hoops to be jumped through before you can get one, and that’s assuming your home state hasn’t banned them at that level.

Yet despite these state-level bans, these devices keep turning up. That’s because those who will break federal law on these things won’t stop because of a state law. That’s just not how their brains work.

And none of the people pushing this seem to understand it.