One thousand rounds a minute.<\/p>\n
That’s what a handgun can fire when it is outfitted with a tiny piece of plastic called a “Glock switch.”<\/p>\n
Now state lawmakers are taking action.<\/p>\n
The Connecticut House of Representatives voted to ban sales of new Glocks and other \u201cconvertible pistols\u201d on Wednesday, until the company redesigns its handguns.<\/p>\n
But critics said the ban will do little to get dangerous guns off the streets.<\/p>\n
\u201cMACHINE GUNS\u201d<\/p>\n
Glock switches are illegal \u2013 but at $25, they’re cheap and easy to make.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can order it off the internet,\u201d retired FBI Special Agent-In-Charge John DeVito said. \u201cPrint it in your backyard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Handguns include a mechanism preventing them from firing multiple rounds at once; Glock switches suppress that mechanism.<\/p>\n
\u201cMachine guns are illegal in Connecticut and they\u2019re illegal in every other state in the country, but they are still showing up on our streets,\u201d said state Rep. Steve Stafstrom (D-Bridgeport). “Generally, Glock model guns that can be easily converted into fully automatic weapons.”<\/p>\n
The legislation does not single-out Glock, but the company’s simplified firing assembly makes it uniquely susceptible to tampering.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s any pistol manufacturer that creates a gun that can be easily converted into a machine gun,\u201d Gov. Ned Lamont told reporters. \u201cIf there\u2019s one manufacturer in particular that\u2019s much more at risk there, clean up your act.\u201d<\/p>\n
The federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms recovered more than 5,849 conversion devices between 2017 and 2021 \u2013 a 719% increase. In Connecticut, Hartford police seized 51 of them between 2023 and 2024.<\/p>\n
NEW SALES BANNED?<\/p>\n
Glock is one of the nation\u2019s most common handguns, but retailers would be prohibited from selling new \u201cconvertible pistols\u201d after Oct. 1.<\/p>\n
Owners could keep their existing handguns \u2013 and sell them. <\/p>\n
“If you currently own a Glock, nobody is coming to confiscate it. It’s not illegal to own your Glock,” Stafstrom said. \u201cNo one who currently has a Glock is going to have to get rid of that gun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Republicans think the ban won\u2019t work, noting that Glock switches are already illegal but are still showing up on the streets anyway.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like trying to pin down Jello-O,\u201d said Connecticut House GOP leader Vin Candelora (R-North Branford). \u201cSo they could pass every law in the books to regulate guns and restrict guns and prohibit the purchase of guns. It doesn’t actually accomplish, I think, what we want to see, and that is a reduction of gun violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Critics noted that \u201cconvertible pistols\u201d could still be purchased out-of-state and brought into Connecticut legally. There is also no exception for police to purchase new Glocks for law enforcement purposes.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s do the easy thing \u2013 the political thing \u2013 and just keep banning weapons that are just going to be manufactured to get around these laws,\u201d Candelora said.<\/p>\n
The legislation also strengthens Connecticut\u2019s existing bans on \u201cbump stocks\u201d and ghost guns,\u201d which are untraceable firearms assembled from a kit.<\/p>\n
WHAT\u2019S NEXT?<\/p>\n
The bill now heads to the state Senate, where it is expected to pass easily.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look forward to signing it as soon as it comes to my desk,\u201d Lamont said Wednesday afternoon. \u201cI don\u2019t know why anybody wants to make it easier to take a pistol and turn it into a machine gun. We\u2019re trying to go the opposite direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Glock did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
The National Rifle Association is challenging a similar law in California<\/a>. New York and several other states are considering bans of Glock sales, and Sen. Richard Blumenthal is pushing for more money for the ATF in Congress<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One thousand rounds a minute. That’s what a handgun can fire when it is outfitted with a tiny…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":{"0":"post-206594","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-bronx","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-nyc","12":"tag-the-bronx","13":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","14":"tag-the-bronx-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}