The new law takes effect July 1, 2026, barring dealers from selling most Glock-style handguns deemed “convertible” into automatic weapons.
Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Assembly Bill 1127 into law, a measure that effectively bans California gun dealers from selling most Glock and Glock-platform pistols capable of being modified into fully automatic weapons.
The law, which takes effect on July 1, 2026, classifies these firearms as “machinegun-covertible pistols,” expanding the state’s long-standing prohibition on automatic weapons.
According to the bill text, the measure prohibits any licensed dealer from offering, transferring, or delivering a semiautomatic pistol that “has design characteristics allowing for readily converting the firearm to fire automatically.”
This language directly targets pistols using a cruciform trigger bar, a mechanism central to most Glock models, that can be adapted with illegal devices known as “Glock switches.”
Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action, both advocates for the legislation, praised the move as closing a deadly loophole. “DIY machine guns are just as scary as they sound,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown. “We applaud California legislators for taking action to keep them off our streets.”
The advocacy group maintained that inexpensive metal or plastic devices have transformed ordinary handguns into weapons capable of firing up to 1,200 rounds per minute, leading to a rise in criminal use nationwide.
Gun Owners of California called AB 1127 a “veiled ban” on one of the most widely used and reliable handguns in America, warning that it “is a dangerous precedent for future bans based on potential modification rather than misuse.”
Under AB 1127, current owners of Glock-style pistols are not required to surrender their firearms, and law enforcement agencies remain exempt from the ban. However, future retail sales and dealer transfers will be prohibited statewide.
Newsom’s office announced the signing in a press release last week, calling the law a “first-in-the-nation effort to keep fully automatic conversion weapons off the streets.” Legal challenges from Second Amendment advocates are widely expected to follow, as the legislation adds to a series of firearm restrictions already under review by federal courts.
