![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GlockBanCaliforniaGetty.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe state \u201cwon\u2019t back down in the face of threats from Donald Trump and the NRA,\u201d said Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, an author of a new law restricting pistols that can be converted into fully-automatic machine guns. <\/p>\n
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Instructor Tom Nguyen, middle, founder of L.A. Progressive Shooters, instructs Nikki Shrieves, 41, right, during a firearms education course in Norwalk, California, on Oct. 29, 2023. Nikki is holding a 9mm Glock. Attorney General Rob Bonta\u2019s office says it will defend California\u2019s gun safety laws in court after the Trump administration filed suit Wednesday.
\n\u00a0(Francine Orr\/ Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The ban on Glock-style handguns, AB 1127<\/a>, took effect Wednesday. It prohibits the sale of pistols with a specific trigger design that allows them to be converted into fully automatic weapons using a small device known as a \u201cswitch,\u201d sometimes made on a 3D printer.<\/p>\n Lawmakers pointed to a 2022 mass shooting near the state Capitol in Sacramento, which killed six people and wounded a dozen more, as an example of the danger posed by converted weapons.<\/p>\n \u201cCalifornia won\u2019t back down in the face of threats from Donald Trump and the NRA,\u201d Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino), one of the bill\u2019s authors, said in a statement<\/a> Wednesday. \u201cAs a parent and lawmaker, I refuse to stand idly by while our schools and communities are being threatened by illegal gun violence.\u201d<\/p>\n Though the Glock brand is not directly named in the new law, the DOJ\u2019s complaint argues the law amounts to a ban on the country\u2019s most popular handgun, citing analyst estimates that Glock held nearly two-thirds of the U.S. handgun market as of 2020. The complaint compares the law to banning shotguns because they could be illegally sawed off, arguing that the ability to convert a legal weapon doesn\u2019t justify banning it.<\/p>\n James Gibbons-Shapiro, an assistant district attorney of Santa Clara County who oversees the office\u2019s victim services unit, said the law addresses a threat he\u2019s seen up close. His team has responded to two mass shootings since 2019, which includes the 2021 shooting at a VTA rail yard in San Jos\u00e9<\/a> that killed nine people.<\/p>\n \u201cYou shouldn\u2019t be able to sell a gun that can easily convert to a machine gun with a plastic insert,\u201d Gibbons-Shapiro said. \u201cIt\u2019s illegal to have a machine gun under federal law. Those are weapons of war.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the law is part of a broader local effort \u2014 including gun violence restraining orders and prosecutions of people manufacturing untraceable \u201cghost guns\u201d \u2014 aimed at preventing mass shootings before they happen.<\/p>\n \u201cThese laws do not prevent guns from being sold in California,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are trying to make sure that people who buy guns buy guns that are safe.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam Wilson, California director for Gun Owners of California, said his organization was \u201cecstatic\u201d about the lawsuit, arguing the state is illegally banning a firearm in common use. He dismissed the argument that Glock-style pistols are uniquely dangerous simply because they can be illegally modified.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the state of California is going to argue potential for misuse on one of the most commonly owned handguns in America, they can argue potential for misuse for any weapon that\u2019s ever existed,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cEven things that aren\u2019t weapons, like cars.\u201d<\/p>\n The DOJ\u2019s lawsuit<\/a> also revives a fight over the state\u2019s handgun roster, and targets state requirements that new handguns include a chamber-load indicator and a mechanism that prevents firing when the magazine is removed. Those requirements have faced a separate legal challenge in Boland v. Bonta. In 2023, a federal judge struck down its safety standards, including a microstamping rule \u2014 where handguns transfer identifiers like make, model and serial number onto fired shell casings \u2014 the state has since delayed to 2028.<\/p>\n Wilson argued gun owners shouldn\u2019t need government-mandated features on their weapons.<\/p>\n \u201cGun owners are generally very law-abiding and responsible citizens,\u201d he said. \u201cThey don\u2019t need the government to babysit what kind of features should or should not be on the weapons that they choose for self-defense.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam Skaggs, chief counsel and vice president at Giffords Law Center, an anti-gun violence advocacy group led by former Rep. Gabby Giffords<\/a> (D-Arizona), defended the law\u2019s narrow scope.<\/p>\n \u201cAB 1127 does not ban Glocks outright,\u201d he said. \u201cThe law prohibits gun dealers from selling firearms that can be easily converted into illegal fully automatic weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AP23269726479806-scaled-e1783030536835.jpg\")
Gov. Gavin Newsom shakes hands with Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Los Angeles County), 3rd from left, after signing Gabriel\u2019s bill that raises taxes on guns and ammunition, during a news conference in Sacramento on Sept. 26, 2023. (Rich Pedroncelli\/The Associated Press)<\/p>\n![\"Gabby](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Image-from-iOS-4.jpg\")
Gabby Giffords during an election watch party at Manny\u2019s, a cafe and political space, in San Francisco\u2019s Mission District on March 3, 2020. (Beth LaBerge\/KQED)<\/p>\n