Last month I taught a MAG-40 class in the San Diego area with one of my 9mm Glock 26 subcompact pistols. This month Governor Newsom signed into law a bill banning the sale of any new Glock pistols since they can be converted to fully automatic fire with the infamous Glock Switch.
It’s a new level of anti-gun stupidity.
I visit California often. I have family there, have taught classes there, and have done self-defense shooting trials there. I love the climate. I know many wonderful people there. But the laws and the political correctness are such that I am glad I do not live there.
Did no one tell the Governor and the legislators that clever, mechanically-oriented criminals can make their own illegal fully automatic weapons? When I was teaching in Great Britain in the last century, I learned from authorities that the IRA was manufacturing their own copies of the STEN submachine gun. During the Dillinger epoch, he and Baby Face Nelson owned Colt 1911s that had been turned into machine pistols by a “gunsmith to the outlaws” named Hyman Lebman.
Illegal possession of fully automatic weapons carries a heavy Federal penalty already, as does the possession of any firearm by a convicted felon. Giving law-breakers just another law to break is laughable. Denying the law-abiding public the right to reliable, effective self-defense weapons is a violation of civil rights and indeed, of human rights.
The Second Amendment Foundation has already filed a lawsuit to challenge this latest BS.
Governor Newsom is probably the leading candidate for President that the Democrats will offer in 2028. Has common sense really become this out of date?
There is a (maybe) joke that you can get an 80% Sten kit in the plumbing aisle at Home Depot.
80%? More like 90%, as I understand it. It doesn’t take much drilling/milling to turn a steel pipe into a Sten receiver.
You may have seen the news from just yesterday that Glock appears to have capitulated by — as surprising as it is — deprecating all their current models and replacing them with “V” versions that are not as easily convertible to full auto.
Beat me to it.
But something tells me California’s new Glock-ban law will stand … and also ban the sale of the new, not-as-easily-convertible pistols.
My question is: Will Glock continue to supply California’s law enforcement agencies with pistols the non-LEO citizenry is prohibited from buying?
And a follow-up: What about other manufacturers?
Yeah. They did a 1990s Tompkins S&W/Ruger… might as well hire Dylan Mulvaney to booth-babe for them at NRAAM and SHOT.
They don’t prosecute gangbangers for having Glock switches. The existence of switches is just an excuse to take as many guns as possible away from as many law abiding citizens as possible. Having an “excuse” to outlaw the most popular handgun in the US is a real bonus.
They usually don’t prosecute criminals for having guns, Glock-switched or not.
If the problem is “criminals with guns,” you’d think they’d be diligent about prosecuting felons-in-possession for being felons in possession, using the full force of the law.
But they don’t. Therefore, based on their actions, they have no issue with criminals having guns; it’s the lawful, peaceable citizens having guns that they find intolerable.
You hit it right on the head.
Instead of doing a Tompkins S&W/Ruger and dumping their entire catalog in reply, Glock SHOULD have rammed the Barrett Rule so far up the Ban States’ collective keister it knocked out teeth. “Absolutely no sales in these states private or gov, neither direct from us nor from any Authorized Retailer or Distributor.”
This is not meant as anti-cop, this is anti-special privilege – if we can’t have it you can’t have it, if you want it for duty start fighting for us. Remember, when Hoover was questioned about what authority he armed his FBI under he said the Second Amendment was all the authority his agents needed…
To be clear, Mas, thanks for fighting the good fight all these years – just saying we’d have a lot more weight in the 2A fight if FOP’s, PBA’s etc stood with us more in pushing back whenever pols with skulls more full of crap than my loo after an all-day binge at a Mongolian buffet get another visit from the Gungrab Idea Fairy.
There is no path so foolish that the Deamoncrats will not enthusiastically journey down that path.
Since the Firearms Act of 1920 in the UK, it required police permission to purchase, possess or use most firearms and ammunition. Applicants had to show a “good reason,” thus ownership became a privilege not a right. Said privilege was taken away over the years. No 2nd Amendment then or ever, and now you can be arrested and jailed for “wrongthink.” Thus no 1st Amendment either. That’s our future path if Newsome and his minions have political power. The Second Amendment Foundation has my support, thanks to Mas.
Anything to do with guns from ANY democrat politician will be stupid. Because they are ALL, EVERY SINGLE ONE, idiots. Their collective I Q. cannot even reach triple digits.
That is where you are wrong. They are not stupid. They know exactly what they are doing. The tyrant wants an ignorant, unarmed, godless populace.
With all respect, I believe Ginkus has it right.
I can entertain the hypothesis that a plurality of anti-gun activists (not politicians) just want safer communities, truly believe that getting rid of guns will make that happen, and are acting out of ignorance. But the politicians are not that ignorant; they know exactly what they’re pushing for.
They can’t not know, because we’ve told them. And history has informed them that no totalitarian has ever stayed in power while the citizenry retains the means to resist — there’s a reason those very same politicians don’t want real history taught in public schools.
John Adams said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
And Hanlon’s Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by ignorance and/or stupidity.
But Leftist politicians do everything they can to blur morality, discourage religious teaching and practice, dumb down “education,” and disarm the people — as if they are trying to build a populace which the Constitution cannot govern. And their continued efforts, even after being warned, can no longer be adequately or reasonably explained by ignorance. They know what they’re doing.
California, and all of the antigun states, want to ban all types of firearms. That is an elephant sized task that can only be done one small bite at a time.
I continue to pray that the SCOTUS will finally step in and put an end to the madness but I am losing hope. They have every good opportunity to do so and they don’t show any desire. Maybe they’re waiting for Justice Thomas to die off so they have enough votes to support all of the goofy bans and other laws.
It seems the devide between common sense and politics widens with every election cycle. We need better choices on the ballot not just a selection of game show hosts.
Agreed. I’m increasingly convicted in my opinion that anyone who wants power should be kept as far from it as possible — and that that should immediately disqualify most-if-not-all politicians.
The problem is, who gets on the ballot if wanting power is an automatic disqualification?
One possible solution is to treat political office more like jury duty; you get the summons, you show up unless you can excuse yourself for a time — at this point, Joe Random Citizen is probably more trustworthy than most professional politicians. Pair that with strict term limits so people are less likely to be corrupted by the power of their office.
Just a thought.
Well, during my employment travels around the country during all of the ammo shortage (s) & gun grab scares during certain administrations, I see this as an opportunity for gun shops to put premium prices on all remaining Glock inventory. AND , they will probably sell ALL of them! Won’t make a d#!n bit of difference to the crooks OR, THEY will make a killing selling more illegal weapons. Remember Prohibition & illegal substances??!!
It’s nauseating to even think that empty suit could become president but since the last democrat got in with an empty head, nothing is impossible. Newsome has put CA on the rocket sled to hell and would do the same to the Nation.
Oregon and Washington, too. Newsom isn’t governor of the whole Left Coast, but OR and WA seem to have massive inferiority complexes when it comes to racing California to the bottom. So what Newsom does in California, Oregon and Washington will soon emulate.
Rational appeals have no effect on mob hysteria.
(Helen Andrews)
When I asked an inside source from Smyrna GA if that Glock V article was total BS. he said: “If it’s true… someone is losing their job”
As I recall, any “existing Glocks” in the state are grandfathered in. But will that also grandfather visitors showing up with older Glocks (and a Cali ccw and a 10rd mag)?
“Giving law-breakers just another law to break is laughable.”
The object of firearms-prohibition is people control. While it is always sold to the public, and the politicians, as a measure for “Crime Control” or to limit violence, this is a lie. A deception. A smoke-screen to cloak and hide their true goals.
The goal here is to disarm the American Citizen so as to (ultimately) reduce him to subservient peonage to the “All Powerful Government”. Leftists worship Government as their “One True God”. They will tolerate no resistance to their God. Therefore, the People must be disarmed so that their God-Government will have a monopoly on the use of force.
The First Commandment of the Left is:
“The Government is your one True God. Thou shall worship Government as WE DO. No other Gods or concerns (not religion, nor family, nor love of Country, nor a desire to live independently, etc.) will be tolerated.”
The Heller Decision means that the Left is blocked (for now) from outright bans of handguns. So, they are implementing their standard operating procedure (SOP) when meeting such a road-block. The fall back on incrementalism and attempt to implement bans in a piecemeal fashion. In other words, by individual models rather than as a whole class.
They have developed arguments to ban Glocks (too easy to convert to full auto) and the SIG P320 (unsafe to carry). They are using these excuses to implement selective bans of these models as part of their incremental banning approach to circumvent the 2nd Amendment.
It is a mistake to give any credence to anything that the Left says. Deceit is all they know. Everything they say is built upon lies. The California Ban has NOTHING to do with keeping automatic weapons out of the hands of criminals. It has EVERYTHING to do with disarming the American Citizen. That is the real goal here.
Unfortunately, the Left’s deception seems to be working. Glock has announced that they are going to remove many of their old models from the market and replace them with selected, updated versions. No doubt, they will try to design the new models to be resistant to the installation of current-generation Glock switches.
This is a foolish move by Glock. When one tries to appease the Left, one only encourages further abuse. The Left will react like Sharks that smell blood in the water. Also, of course, how long will it be before the updated Glock Switch appear that will work with the new models?
Don’t treat the Left as if they have legitimate concerns. Their only concern is to disarm the American Citizen by any means necessary. This is all a lie.
One further comment. Don’t buy any more Glock pistols. Glock has shown themselves to be moral cowards. They seek to appease the Left rather than support the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
Glock is not the first Gun company to sell out to the Firearms-Prohibitionists. Years ago, when under different leadership, Smith & Wesson did a similar thing. Gun-buyers punished S&W for their treason by cutting back on the purchase of S&W firearms. The backlash hurt S&W and the company was sold to a new management team who had a bit more backbone.
Treat Glock the same way! Stop buying Glock handguns until the company comes to its senses and develops enough backbone to stand up to the Left’s intimidation.
Firearms are not just another commercial product to be manufactured and placed on the market at the best possible price. Firearms are the tools of Liberty. Above all, a Firearms Company should not be staffed by cowards who easily buckle under pressure and intimidation!
Doubly so if Glock follows Colt’s example and starts marketing their products solely to police and military, and eschews “civilian” sales entirely.
Glock can maintain their reputation by following Barrett’s example, and refusing to sell any firearms or accessories to police agencies in California that the non-police citizenry is prohibited from buying. If Glock pistols are “too dangerous” to be sold to “civilians,” they are “too dangerous” to be in the holsters of police officers who interact with “civilians” daily.
And S&W and Ruger and all the rest should be paying close attention, to both the law and Glock’s reaction to it; if California can ban sales of one company’s entire line of products, there’s no reason they couldn’t ban theirs, too.
If Glock management stood up to Newsom, nearly all gun owners and MAGA Republicans would cheer loudly for them.
You don’t need to go to the plumbing supply to build replicas of many sub guns. Exhaust pipe of proper diameter will allegedly work. And, the tolerances are much tighter. Possibly the stuff used for our “grease gun” (M3?) was slightly different steel spec and thickness, but service life wasn’t a real big concern either of the IRA or many arms makers in wartime.
I saw an example long ago of a post WWII surplus parts marriage between an M3 upper and a Thompson fire control system (and stock?). Strange, but it worked, was controllable and supposedly production was around 1000-1500. Attributed to a noted arms designer.
I’d have liked to see Glock quit selling to California too. It’d be nice if ALL the gun makers would.
Newsome is constantly appearing on podcasts claiming that he isn’t anti-gun (looking at you Shawn Ryan). I wouldn’t trust that dude as far as I could throw him but he is so slimy I probably couldn’t get a good hold on him anyway.
Newsom isn’t anti-gun. He needs his bodyguards and police to be armed.
He’s just anti-your-gun.
Esteemed TN_MAN, good comments as always. The leftist incremental assault on our Constitution, though, reminds me of Robert McNamara’s incremental approach to fighting a war. Doomed to fail against a determined opponent. Up the 2A Foundation!
Unfortunately, using truth, facts and logic to argue issues with Democrats only works on a few of them. Many are not persuaded.
Don’t anyone wishe up governor Brylcream to the DIAS (drop in auto sear) else he will go after every AR.
Even given that a DIAS alone doesn’t make an AR fire full-auto, he probably would. It’s not about facts, it’s about what he can scare the Legislature and voters into supporting, and the phrase “drop-in auto sear” sounds like an easy, one-step conversion.
Glock ‘Series V’
Does this mean get the remaining new-old-stock while you still can or could there be no material difference in performance for the law abiding?
Maybe it’s a wait and see. Maybe a lot of things.