California's effort to restrict sales of handguns that can be converted into fully automatic machine guns generated an immediate federal challenge on Wednesday, when the Trump administration sued the state over its new “ban Glock” law just hours after it took effect.
The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking a court order to block the controversial state law that limits where most Glock and Glock-style pistols can be sold. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, also seeks to invalidate key parts of the state's firearms list, a list that dictates the types of firearms Californians can legally purchase. In a statement Wednesday, acting Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche said both policies “trample” the rights of law-abiding Californians.
“The Second Amendment is a sacred right that belongs to all Americans, even those in California,” Blanche said. “California can't ban the most popular type of firearm in America.”
California Assembly Bill 1127 does not explicitly name the Glock brand, but instead targets any firearm with a specific mechanism that can easily become a black market device. These simple “Glock switches” turn semi-automatic pistols into a weapon capable of firing 20 rounds per second with a single pull of the trigger.
Advances in 3D printing have made conversion devices widely available and cheap to produce. Federal authorities reported recovering 11,088 of them from crime scenes between 2019 and 2023. Switches have been used in several mass shootings, including one in Sacrament which resulted in six deaths and 12 injuries in 2022.
The new law does not prohibit the possession of affected firearms already owned by Californians and includes exemptions for gun traffickers as well as law enforcement and military agencies.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill in October and has maintained that gun laws are responsible for declining crime rates and gun deaths in California.
“The Trump administration is once again attempting to dismantle California's common-sense gun safety laws,” Diana Crofts-Pelayo, a spokesperson for the governor, said in a statement. “Our answer is simple: these laws save lives.”
The federal government argues in its lawsuit that California cannot ban legal semi-automatic pistols simply because they could be illegally altered, adding that state and federal laws already prohibit these types of pistol converters. The United States compared California's approach to banning regular shotguns because they can be illegally shortened.
The lawsuit also challenges California's decades-old firearms list, which requires new models of firearms to pass certain safety tests before they can be approved for retail sale. A federal judge tentatively blocked parts of the list requirements in a separate 2023 case, which is being appealed to the Ninth Circuit. That lawsuit was filed by the California Rifle and Pistol Association. and other gun rights advocates following a landmark 2022 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that established new standards for evaluating firearms restrictions.
Under those new guidelines, the Trump administration wants a judge to find that California's gun restrictions violate the Second Amendment and is seeking an order barring the state from enforcing them.
The Trump administration is relying on a federal civil rights law that is typically used against police departments accused of repeated constitutional violations, California's prosecutor argues. General Rob Bonta and state Department of Justice agents qualify as law enforcement officers and therefore violate gun owners' rights every time they place restrictions on handguns.
Bonta, whose name appears in the lawsuit, has a winning judicial record over the Trump administration and has obtained at least 12 final court rulings and more than 35 preliminary injunctions or emergency orders.
“We will not be intimidated by another politically motivated lawsuit,” said Crofts-Pelayo, Newsom's spokesperson. “We will continue to defend laws that protect Californians and keep dangerous weapons off our streets.”
