A Maryland law that will ban Glocks and Glock-style guns — “many of the most popular handguns in America” — is unconstitutional, according to a lawsuit filed by the National Rifle Association and other pro-gun groups.
The lawsuit targets Senate Bill 334, which Gov. Wes Moore signed into law Tuesday. When the law goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2027, it will prohibit individuals from manufacturing, selling, buying or receiving Glocks that can be converted into automatic weapons with an attachment.
The legislation defines a “machine gun convertible pistol” as a semiautomatic pistol that can be converted into a machine gun by installing an attachment by hand or with the use of “common household tools.”
“In effect, the law bans nearly every Glock and Glock-style pistol on the market,” said the NRA, which was joined in the suit by the Firearms Policy Coalition and Second Amendment Foundation.
In a statement shared with WJZ, the governor’s office said, “This law is focused on public safety and gives Maryland State Police a clear process to identify firearms that can be readily converted into fully automatic weapons, while maintaining commonsense exceptions for law enforcement and other lawful uses. The Governor will always defend Maryland’s right to pass laws that keep our communities safe.”
In their lawsuit, the NRA and the other parties argue that Maryland’s ban on Glocks violates the Second Amendment. They cite a previous case based in Washington, D.C., in which the U.S. Supreme Court determined that common firearms cannot be banned.
Read More
“Maryland’s prohibition on many of the most popular handguns in America blatantly defies the court’s precedent,” the NRA said.
Maryland is the second state in the U.S. to ban weapons that can be converted into automatic machine guns, after California.
“Governor Moore signed this bill because Marylanders should not have to live in fear of weapons that can be quickly and illegally converted into machine guns. Our responsibility is clear: protect families, support law enforcement, and keep dangerous weapons off our streets,” the governor’s office said in a statement.
The organizations Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action both praised the legislation, calling it a critical public safety measure.
“This approach does not infringe on gun ownership or take away any firearms already owned by Marylanders. Rather, it targets industry designs that make machine gun conversion easy,” the organizations said in a joint statement.
Last year, Baltimore also took aim at Glocks by suing the manufacturer of the guns over allegations that the company violated the state’s Gun Industry Accountability Act and contributed to the gun violence crisis. According to the city’s lawsuit, the pistols can be “easily converted into a machine gun.”
Baltimore police said the number of modified Glocks they seized doubled between 2023 and 2024, with 65 recovered in 2024.
WJZ is a media partner of The Banner
Comments
Welcome to The Banner's subscriber-only commenting community. Please review our community guidelines.