The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and its partners have filed a reply in support of their motion for preliminary injunction in Bathras v. Moore, SAF’s challenge to the Maryland Glock ban signed into law by Gov. Wes Moore earlier this year.
SAF is joined by the National Rifle Association and Firearms Policy Coalition. The original complaint was filed back on May 26.
SAF filed the lawsuit immediately after Gov. Moore signed Senate Bill 334 into law. The new law states that a person “…may not manufacture, sell, offer for sale, purchase, receive, or transfer a machine gun convertible pistol.” It further defines a “machine gun convertible pistol” as a firearm that contains a cruciform trigger bar. Unique to Glock and Glock-style handguns, a cruciform trigger bar is a pivotal component to the overall design of the handgun.
SB 334 purports to ban these popular and completely legal handguns in an effort to prevent their already-illegal conversion into machineguns. The ban goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2027.
“Maryland is known as the Free State, yet Marylanders are being told that a major chunk of the commercially available handgun market is off limits for them,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb. “If residents in Maryland were truly free, then this absurd law would never have made it past the inception stage. Instead, it’s taken the filing of a lawsuit to ensure the Second Amendment rights of those living in Maryland are defended from idealogue lawmakers who think they can decide which constitutional rights citizens in the state can freely exercise.”
“Handguns are protected by the Second Amendment, and Glock-style handguns are overwhelmingly popular for everyday civilians, police and military users.” said SAF Senior Director of Legal Operations Bill Sack. “The contrived premise of this bill is that Glocks must be banned because criminals can alter them into machineguns. But that conversion is already illegal and so is the possession of the parts necessary to do it – upon threat of stiff federal incarceration. But Maryland lawmakers passed a bill, not aimed at the tiny fraction of Glock owners who illegally alter their firearms, but rather at everyone who would choose one of the most popular brands of handguns on the market with which to exercise their rights.”
As noted in the brief, “…the State’s argument is not that ‘machinegun convertible pistols’ are ‘excessively dangerous’ as sold. Rather, the State’s argument is that machinegun converted pistols are. But it has no support for the principle that an ordinary handgun, which the Supreme Court has already held is protected in Heller, can be considered ‘dangerous and unusual’ because it could be turned into a different kind of weapon by adding an illegal part or making other criminal alterations to the handgun.” SAF is joined in Bathras v. Moore by Atlantic Guns, the National Rifle Association, Firearms Policy Coalition and two private citizens.
For more information visit SAF.org
