Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed today what amounts to a ban on the future sale of Glock handguns and similar semiautomatic pistols in a state already rife with anti-gun legislation. The law (SB 334) will go into effect on October 1, 2026, and includes provisions to ban the sale, purchase, or transfer of such firearms going into full effect starting Jan. 1, 2027.

Moore’s pen was quite busy over the last few days, signing a flurry of some 275 bills into law as part of a bill-signing ceremony. Both chambers of the Democrat-controlled Maryland state legislature previously approved the arbitrary bans on popular semi-auto handguns.

The Maryland House passed HB 577 in a 92-39 vote, following in the wake of the Senate's approval of cross-filed SB 334 in a 28-16 roll call in March. The tandem measures have the same goal: banning the "manufacturing, selling, offering for sale, purchasing, receiving, or transferring" of pistols classified under the proposals as being "machine gun convertible."

The language of the bills classifies such "convertible" handguns as those having a "cruciform trigger bar" or having a "sear incorporated into a cross-shaped surface," which would ensnare Glocks and Glock-type clones. 

Such bans have been a top priority for national gun control groups, many of which have been involved in controversial litigation against Glock for the misuse of the guns with aftermarket and typically illegal full-auto devices. Not endorsed by Glock, these unregistered "switches" are already illegal under the National Firearms Act. 

A similar ban has already been adopted in California – and immediately hit with a federal lawsuit, while Connecticut is considering a prohibition of its own. 

Banner image: A Gen 3 Glock 19, a classic since its introduction in 1998. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)