On Monday, August 18 the California Senate Appropriations Committee is slated to hold a hearing on a bill that would ban the sale of Glock handguns; the final step before the bill could hit the Senate Floor.
AB 1127 has already cleared the lower chamber in the California statehouse, and is almost assured of passage in the Senate as well. Still, supporters of the ban aren’t taking anything for granted. Ahead of tomorrow’s hearing former Los Angeles prosecutor Mike Feuer has penned an op-ed backing the ban, which would be the first of its kind if enacted into law.
Machine guns have been illegal for decades. But what if, in a matter of moments, a handgun could be transformed into a weapon that fires up to 20 bullets per second? That is now the horrifying reality confronting outgunned police departments and terrorizing communities throughout California and across the nation. So-called machine gun conversion devices are fueling a surge in gun violence fatalities. Victims range from police officers to young children struck in a barrage of bullets following a single trigger pull.
It is amazing that a device so small and inexpensive can wreak such havoc, and it is extraordinary to see a gun affixed with one in action. Roughly the size of a quarter and readily available for $20 or less, machine gun conversion devices are simple to attach to the backs of some semiautomatic pistols. (They are sometimes referred to as “Glock switches” because they are especially easy to attach to Glock pistols.)
Despite what Feuer claims, machine guns aren’t illegal to possess… at least not those manufactured before 1987. The machine gun conversion devices that Feuer describes, however, are illegal to possess under both federal and California law.
Since criminals are ignoring that law, anti-gunners are now taking aim at Glocks themselves. AB 1127 wouldn’t require existing owners to give them up (though as we’ve seen with California’s magazine ban, that’s likely the next step if the bill becomes law), but it would ban the sale of Glocks throughout the state of California, albeit with an exception for law enforcement for some reason.
Law enforcement and other officials have been searching for solutions. Last fall, the U.S. Department of Justice established a federal anti-machine gun conversion device task force; the former U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts seized the domains of 350 sites that were selling such devices; scientists and industry officials have begun exploring ways to make 3D printing of these devices more difficult; and prosecutors throughout the nation have embarked on public education campaigns to alert the public to the dangers of the devices, with some offering sizable rewards to encourage reporting of the use and possession of machine gun conversion devices.
Gabriel’s bill has passed the State Assembly and is pending in the State Senate. Its enactment would be both intrinsically important and, potentially, the catalyst for comparable legislation in statehouses across the nation. Similar bills have been introduced in other states, but California must do what it does best: lead.
If Kamala Harris had won last November, it’s quite possible that the DOJ would be treating Glocks as machine guns right now despite her claims to own one. Thankfully we don’t have to worry about that, but Feuer is correct in noting that legislation similar to AB 1127 has been filed in other blue states like New York, and we’re likely to see other states follow suit if California does ban the sale of Glocks in the near future.
California’s ban on switches hasn’t stopped criminals, and banning the sale of the most popular handguns in the country won’t stop them either. I honestly don’t even think that’s the point. This is about banning handguns in general, and AB 1127 is just one step in a much broader assault on our right to keep and bear arms.
Editor’s Note: Democrats will stop at nothing to eviscerate our Second Amendment rights.
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