California’s Glock Ban Has Arrived — And It Reveals The Real Strategy Behind Its Gun Laws
One of America’s most popular handgun platforms is being pushed out of California’s marketplace, and the constitutional fight is just getting started.
Typically, our afternoon content is behind a paywall…Or there is something extra for paid subscribers. If you are not one, please consider upgrading — you are missing a significant portion of what we produce each week, and your support makes it possible. If you want to get it all and support my efforts, please consider a paid subscription!
Because most of this content is paywalled, it is not available on our podcasting channels.
⏱️ 6 minute read
The Drop-Dead Date
At the beginning of next month, on July first, California begins enforcing Assembly Bill 1127. The law effectively cuts off the future retail sale of Glock pistols and Glock-style handguns across the state.
Supporters claim the law targets “Glock switches”—illegal conversion devices that can turn a semiautomatic pistol into a makeshift machine gun. But machine guns are already illegal. Switches are already illegal. Using one in a crime is already heavily penalized.
Sacramento Democrats did not go after the criminal underground with this bill. They went after the display cases at your local gun store. I say Democrats because not a single Republican voted for this bill in either legislative chamber.
The mechanism matters. AB 1127 does not ban every striker-fired pistol. Instead, it targets pistols that use a cruciform trigger bar—the internal Glock component that interacts with the rear backplate where illegal switches are mounted.
This is not some obscure firearm. Glock is one of the definitive modern handgun platforms. It is what police officers carry, what civilians buy for home defense, and what millions of Americans train with. There are millions of them in the hands of law-abiding citizens.
You have now read roughly 20% of this column. The remaining 80% — including the constitutional issues, the response from California’s leading gun-rights organizations, and why this fight is about much more than Glock — is reserved for paid subscribers.
PAID SUBSCRIBERS GET THE FULL COLUMN
Below the paywall:
Why July 1 may mark the beginning of this fight, not the end of it.
What California’s major Second Amendment organizations are saying about what comes next.
The Supreme Court doctrine that could determine the law's fate.
The regulatory trap Sacramento spent years building for itself.
The question supporters of the ban still struggle to answer.
Upgrade today and get this and a lot more!
