ALBANY, NY (WRGB) — Democratic lawmakers are trying to make gun laws even harder in New York, including the sale of Glock brand firearms.
Legislation passed a senate committee to ban the sale of pistol converters and convertible pistols.
The legislation hones in on the firearm brand Glock because the design is easily manipulated.
“So they’re basically saying to Glock, you need to change your design of your gun or you’re not going to be able to sell it in New York State,” said Matthew Winchell, associate attorney at Tully Rinckey.
The sponsor of the bill democratic Senator Zellnor Myrie, says the danger involves the controversial Glock switches.
“When corporations know their products are vulnerable to misuse, but do nothing to prevent it, government must act,” said Senator Myrie. “Glock, and other companies that mimic their designs, should be on notice: New York will not tolerate this corporate recklessness. We will protect our communities from the growing threat of dangerous, convertible pistols.”
Those are already illegal in New York and the U.S.
no nobody sells them, nobody sells them. There is not a legal business in the United States that sells them,” said Craig Serafini, Owner of Upstate Guns and Ammo. “They would have to be black market or something somebody would learn to craft themselves.”
However, Myrie says companies like Glock are not doing enough to address the design flaws which let users turn the guns into machine guns.
So he says the government must act and is putting companies on notice.
CBS6 asked Governor Hochul about the bill Wednesday.
“I don’t think it’s okay that you should be able to take a gun and modify it so it becomes a military style weapon to slaughter our residents,” said Hochul.
According to a CBS news report, in 2021 there were over 92,000 gun licenses in the state.
“We’ve got a huge second amendment following in New York State,” said Winchell. “I would not be surprised if this gets passed into law if Glock sues and a host of other organizations, New York State Rifle Pistol Association usually scope the various counties a scope will sign on to these types of things.”