Can California Protect Its Own Gun Control Laws?

by Lynn La
This article was originally published by CalMatters

California Democrats are used to defending gun control measures against lawsuits by Second Amendment advocates like the California Rifle and Pistol Association.

Now, the state is facing a lawsuit from the Trump administration targeting a new law restricting sales of Glock semi-automatic handguns.

Since July 1, the state has prohibited the sale of Glock handguns and various off-brand imitators that can be converted to fully automatic guns — which are already illegal under state and federal laws, with some exceptions — after inserting a converter into the gun.

The U.S. Department of Justice is challenging the law, saying it bans the sale “of the most popular handgun in America” and that it “obviously violates the Second Amendment.” California can enforce its law while the lawsuit proceeds, a judge ruled Thursday.

It’s another example of the state playing defense to protect the gun control laws it adopted in the decade after the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.

Take, for instance:

• The state is awaiting a decision in another case at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that gutted a 2016 ballot initiative requiring background checks before ammunition purchases.
• A new U.S. Supreme Court decision struck down state laws that prohibit people from carrying concealed firearms in private places, such as stores, including California’s. Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito said a similar law in Hawaii “hobbles … the right of Americans to carry arms for self-defense as they go about their daily lives.”
• And, the high court agreed to hear an Illinois case that could overturn California’s assault weapons ban, which limits the sale of AR-15-style rifles.

State officials are preparing to protect the new handgun law by arguing it is not a categorical ban on Glocks. Rather, they say, it directs gun makers to redesign firearms so they can no longer be easily modified into machine guns.

Proponents of gun safety also criticized the lawsuit.

• Adam Skaggs, chief counsel and vice president at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence: “This law addresses the alarming rise in black market conversion devices and home-made machine guns, like the one used in the 2022 Sacramento shooting, and aims to keep them off the streets.”

The number of semi-automatic pistols recovered in crimes that were modified into machine guns soared 784% nationwide between 2019 and 2023, according to the federal Justice Department.