Maryland could ban Glock sales, worried about ‘machine gun convertible pistols’

Maryland could become the second state to ban the sale of handguns that can easily be converted into machine guns using a tiny device known as a Glock switch.

The devices themselves, which are a little larger than a Lego, are illegal in Maryland and under federal law. A bill under consideration in Annapolis would go further, prohibiting the sale of semiautomatic pistols with a specific type of trigger bar that makes them easy to retrofit and turn into automatic weapons.

Opponents said the bill would effectively ban Marylanders from purchasing Glocks, some of the most popular handguns on the market.

The legislation passed the Maryland Senate by a vote of 28-16 Thursday evening. A House version remains in committee.

The bill would prohibit the sale of “machine gun convertible pistols” that use a “cruciform trigger bar,” the component used in Glocks and copycat weapons that limits the gun to a single round of ammunition per pull of the trigger and can be disabled with a switch device. The legislation would not require current Glock owners to modify or get rid of pistols they own.

Sen. Sara Love, the bill’s sponsor, said when she introduced the bill that many of the converted handguns used in crimes are purchased legally, then move to the illegal market after being stolen or transferred via other means. Banning future sales of these easily convertible guns would prevent them from making their way into the wrong hands, she said.

“Yes, switches are illegal and, yes, converted pistols are illegal,” the Montgomery County Democrat said on the Senate floor this week. “However, law enforcement is seeing them more and more. This is a commonsense design regulation to help law enforcement so there aren’t as many of these guns out there.”

Republican senators argued forcefully against the bill, with Baltimore County Sen. Chris West calling it “aggressively unconstitutional” and vulnerable to a legal challenge.

A similar law passed in California has been dubbed a “Glock ban” and is facing a lawsuit.

Glock did not respond to a request for comment.

Mark Pennak, the president of the gun-rights group Maryland Shall Issue, said the bill would effectively ban all Glocks, along with other handguns that are designed to imitate Glocks, from being sold in Maryland. He expects the company would stop selling guns in Maryland if the law passes.

“They’re banning the sale and purchase of a perfectly legal firearm because criminal third parties are illegally modifying it to become a machine gun,” Pennak said.

“It’s like banning cars because they can be illegally converted into street racers,” he said.

Supporters said the bill doesn’t infringe on gun owners’ rights but holds firearms manufacturers to a basic safety standard.

“Today, Maryland leaders sent a clear message to the gun industry: Our children’s lives are worth more than the profits made from dangerous, convertible designs,” said Alison Rodner, a volunteer with the Maryland chapter of Moms Demand Action.

The bill’s backers include the Baltimore Police Department, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, City Council President Zeke Cohen, Annapolis Mayor Jared Littmann, Frederick Mayor Michael O’Connor and Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Tara H. Jackson.

Baltimore Police confiscated 47 modified guns in 2025 and four so far this year, the department said in written testimony. A handgun used in an October 2023 mass shooting during Morgan State University’s homecoming weekend had been modified with a Glock switch, allowing the shooter to fire at a much faster rate than he could have without the switch. Five people were injured.

Baltimore and the state sued Glock last year, alleging the company was “facilitating the proliferation of illegal machine guns” by selling firearms that could easily be converted.

The case is pending in Baltimore City Circuit Court.

Glock announced last year it would discontinue some of its handgun models and replace them with designs intended to prevent the use of switches. The newer models still use a cruciform trigger bar, though, and they would be banned under the Maryland legislation, Pennak said.

Banner reporter Pamela Wood contributed to this article.