Justice Department sues California to stop Glock Ban

The Justice Department on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against California to halt the state’s newly enacted "Glock ban."

The suit was filed on the same day as a state law known as California Penal Code 27595 makes it illegal for the fire arms dealer in the state to sell certain semiautomatic pistols. 

The DOJ's lawsuit, announced in a press release on Wednesday, comes days after the agency warned the state to stop the ban before it went into effect.

The lawsuit also seeks to prevent California from enforcing its Handgun Roster, a list that limits the legal firearms people can buy in the state. The agency is challenging the Glock ban and Handgun Roster as unlawful under the Second Amendment.

The ban prohibits the retail purchase of common handguns manufactured by Glock and guns with comparable firing mechanisms. To be listed on the Handgun Roster, certain handguns must have a chamber-load indicator, a magazine-disconnect mechanism and, until recently, the ability to transfer microscopic characters representing the handgun’s make, model and serial number onto shell casings fired by the gun.

According to the lawsuit, no new handguns were added to the roster from 2013 to 2023 because of these requirements. 

This resulted in the court’s decision in the 2023 case Boland v. Bonta, which upheld that Californians have the constitutional right to acquire and use state-of-the-art handguns to protect themselves.

“They should not be forced to settle for decade-old models of handguns to ensure that they remain safe inside or outside the home,” the case states.

Boland’s injunction is still pending appeal, and the state’s legislature recently deferred the microstamping requirement until Jan. 1, 2028.

“The Second Amendment is a sacred right belonging to all Americans, even those in California,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said of the Glock ban. “California cannot ban the most popular type of handgun in America.”

The Supreme Court recently reaffirmed that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect citizens’ rights to carry handguns for self-defense outside their homes in Wolford v. Lopez, which was decided June 25. States cannot prevent citizens from using common firearms for self-defense, the court said.

Katherine Pugh is a reporter for Just the News. Follow her on X for more coverage.