Maryland Lawmakers Approve Ban on Glock Handgun Sales Statewide

Maryland's House of Delegates voted 92-39 on Wednesday to send Gov. Wes Moore a bill banning the sale of Glock handguns and similar pistols capable of rapid conversion into automatic weapons, putting Maryland on the verge of becoming only the second state in the nation to take such a step.

Senate Bill 334, sponsored by Sen. Sara Love (D-Montgomery County), targets semiautomatic pistols with a cruciform trigger bar that can be transformed into a fully automatic weapon by attaching a small device known as a Glock switch or auto-sear. Those switches, roughly the size of a Lego block, are already illegal under Maryland and federal law. The legislation goes further, targeting the pistol design itself.

The Maryland Senate had passed the bill 28-16 in March. If Moore signs it, the law takes effect October 1, 2026, with the ban on sales and transfers not kicking in until January 1, 2027. Violations carry a misdemeanor penalty of up to three years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

The stakes are concrete in Baltimore. Mayor Brandon Scott, speaking at a rally in support of the measure, told lawmakers that city police seized 468 Glocks last year alone. During Wednesday's floor debate, Del. Malcolm Ruff (D-Baltimore City) framed the issue in stark terms. "The modification, in this instance, is about making the firearm a weapon of mass destruction," Ruff said, "and we should not allow a company to be irresponsible, to put a product on the market that would allow someone to take out an entire block in a matter of seconds."

Gun-rights groups are pushing back aggressively. Mark Pennak, president of Maryland Shall Issue, said the bill would effectively eliminate not just Glocks but any handgun of similar design from the state's retail market, and he expects Glock would stop selling in Maryland entirely if Moore signs. "They're banning the sale and purchase of a perfectly legal firearm because criminal third parties are illegally modifying it to become a machine gun," Pennak said.

Existing Glock owners are not required to surrender or modify their weapons. They would, however, be prohibited from selling or transferring a covered pistol within Maryland's borders. Law enforcement officers and military personnel acting in their official capacity are exempt.

Love, the bill's sponsor, framed SB 334 as a product safety measure. "It does not target responsible gun owners," she said. "It targets industry designs that make machine-gun conversion possible in the first place."

California is the only other state with a comparable prohibition, its version set to take effect July 1. The National Rifle Association has already filed suit against California over that law, a likely preview of the legal fight Maryland would face. Moore has not publicly announced a position on the bill.