Federal Judge Issues Injunction Blocking Connecticut’s GLOCK Ban Law

How badly did Connecticut want to jump on the GLOCK ban bandwagon? Badly enough to risk the entire law being blocked and (likely) eventually struck down to ensure that it outlaws as many pistols as possible. The Nutmeg state enacted its “convertible pistol” ban (read: GLOCK pistol ban) because they’d rather outlaw an entire category of common, popular guns than enforce laws already on the books that make it illegal to install illegal full-auto switches converting them into machine pistols.

They figured, never pass up a chance to reduce the options law-abiding citizens have to exercise their Second Amendment rights.

The ban was set to take effect today, but yesterday, US District Judge Kari Dooley — whose appointment to the federal bench was enthusiastically supported (LMAO) by “Da Nang” Dick Blumenthal and every gun banner’s favorite Senator, Chris Murphy — issued an injunction blocking the law from taking effect. She ruled that it the plaintiffs are likely to succed on the merits and issued the injunction blocking the law from taking effect.

GLOCK had sued last month on Second Amendment grounds, but primarily because the state pointedly refused to tell the company whether or not its V series and Gen6 guns — which had been designed to thwart switch installation — would be legal after October 1. The NSSF also filed suit and the two were consolidated here.

As GLOCK said a the time . . .

The complaint maintains that the definition of banned “convertible pistols” is vague, ambiguous and unclear as to whether GLOCK pistols manufactured after October 1, 2026 can be sold in the State of Connecticut. In response to customer, dealer, and law enforcement inquiries regarding the statute, GLOCK, Inc. sought clarification from the Connecticut Office of the Attorney General and the State’s Attorneys – to no avail.

The misguided law unconstitutionally infringes on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Connecticut residents by prohibiting an entire class of lawfully made and sold handguns. Through the lawsuit, GLOCK, Inc. seeks not only to gain clarity for Connecticut citizens, but more importantly, to safeguard core Second Amendment rights and ensure that law abiding citizens maintain their right to choose the handguns they keep and bear for self-defense.

So by refusing to eliminate the law’s inherent ambiguity that gives it maximum flexibility to declare as many guns as possible illegal apply the law, and tell GLOCK whether or not their latest pistols would be legal to sell, Connecticut rolled the legal dice, no doubt expecting that a Second Circuit District Judge would surely rule in the state’s favor.

She didn’t.

Not only did Judge Dooley rule that the ban violates the 2A, but she went further. The Connecticut law defined the banned guns this way . . .

“Convertible pistol” means any semiautomatic pistol with a cruciform trigger bar that can be readily converted by hand or with a common household tool into a machine gun solely by the installation or attachment of a pistol converter…

But after hearing the arguments, Judge Dooley decided that . . .

…there is no dispute that handguns with a cruciform trigger bar (in an unconverted state) are not only safe, but extremely popular for purposes of self-defense, and their possession and carry rights are protected by the Second Amendment.

And . . .

…the Court concludes that Plaintiffs have met their burden of establishing a likelihood of success on the merits. The statute is presumptively unconstitutional, and Defendants have not met their burden of demonstrating that the statute is consistent with our nation’s history of firearms regulation.

Bruen strikes again. Meanwhile, Connecticut’s AG William Tong responded exactly as you’d expect.

More to come.