A coalition of gun rights organizations filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York to block a state law that bans the sale and transfer of Glock and Glock-style handguns.
The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), the National Rifle Association (NRA), the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), a licensed firearms dealer, and two private citizens brought the legal challenge against the state’s updated firearm statutes.
Under the contested measure, any licensed dealer or gunsmith who sells, transfers, disposes of, or ships a “convertible pistol” commits a Class D felony. Starting May 31, 2027, violators face penalties of up to seven years in prison along with fines of $5,000 or more. The statute also directs the Superintendent of the New York State Police to compile and maintain an annual registry of pistols deemed convertible into machine guns.
The dispute centers on firearms manufactured with a cruciform trigger bar—an internal design feature introduced in Glock’s original 1982 patent. After the patent expired in 2020, multiple manufacturers adopted similar mechanisms.
Gun control proponents argue the design allows the firearms to be modified into fully automatic weapons using aftermarket conversion devices. Because factory stock models contain this trigger bar, they fall under New York’s statutory definition of a “convertible pistol.”
Plaintiff groups argue the restriction violates the Second Amendment by prohibiting handguns in common use across the country.
“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.”
Gun rights advocates also maintain that existing federal and state laws already penalize the illegal modification of semi-automatic firearms.
“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.”
The lawsuit joins similar litigation across the country challenging state-level restrictions on semi-automatic handguns and internal component designs.
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