The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and its partners have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York challenging New York law that bars the sale and transfer of Glock and Glock-style handguns.

The updated law states that "…any dealer in firearms or gunsmith who…sells, transfers, disposes of, or transports or ships as merchandise a convertible pistol shall be guilty of a class D felony." The law further states that the Superintendent of the New York State Police is required to produce an annual list of machinegun convertible pistols. Anyone found in violation of the law on or after May 31, 2027, is subject to punishment of up to seven years in prison and a fine of $5,000 or more.

"Not to be outdone by their West Coast gun-grabbing counterparts in California, New York lawmakers made providing some of the most common handguns in America to law-abiding New Yorkers punishable by seven years in prison," said SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. "And let's not forget that it was also New York that was already smacked down by the Supreme Court for infringing on the right to carry in NYSRPA v. Bruen. Now these lawmakers seem intent to be reminded that SCOTUS has also already been clear that handguns, the 'quintessential' arm of choice for self-defense, are protected under the Second Amendment. No more can New York ban one of the most popular brand and type of handguns in the country than can it ban all handguns outright."

At issue in this case, as in other lawsuits across the nation including SAF's Renna case, is the fact that Glock and Glock-style handguns are manufactured with a cruciform trigger bar, a feature which gun-control advocates claim makes them rife for illegal conversion into machineguns. The original patent for Glock's handgun included this component in 1982, and when the patent expired in 2020, many other companies started producing pistols with a similar makeup. Because factory stock Glock and Glock-style pistols have a cruciform trigger bar, they satisfy New York's new definition of a "convertible pistol" and will be illegal to sell or transfer once the law takes effect. Joining SAF in the case are the National Rifle Association, Firearms Policy Coalition, two private citizens and a licensed firearms dealer.

"Lawmakers in New York are doing nothing more than continuing their unconstitutional assault on law-abiding citizens who want to exercise their Second Amendment rights in peace," said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. "Making someone a criminal for selling or transferring a handgun merely because someone can illegally convert those firearms into something they are not is absurd. It's already illegal to convert these pistols into machineguns and the conversion itself requires possession of other illegal items, but lawmakers persist in focusing on the handgun and not the criminals who will continue committing crimes with or without this new law in place."

For more information visit SAF.org.