Nothing sells guns like politicians trying to ban them, a fact that's recently been borne out in Virginia, where sales of "assault firearms" like the AR-15 are soaring after the Democrat-controlled legislature introduced a ban on the sale, manufacture, and transfer of many popular firearms. In February, there were 22,122 NICS checks associated with purchases and transfers of long guns in Virginia, compared to 14,286 checks in February, 2025. That figure grew to 27,691 in March of this year, and I expect the number will be even bigger when the April NICS data is released next week.
Gun stores in Connecticut are getting a similar boost in sales of Glocks and other striker-fired pistols thanks to Gov. Ned Lamont, who's spearheading a bill that would ban the sale of those pistols based on the fact that they can be illegally converted to fire full-auto with the installation of a "switch," an item which is already illegal to possess under state and federal law.
Lamont's gun ban bill passed the Connecticut House of Representatives last week, and many FFLs in the state say their customers have taken notice.
“We figured it’s about 30% of our sales,” said Richard Sprandel, the owner of Blue Line Firearms and Tactical in Monroe, referring to Glocks. “There are other guns that we can sell that are very similar, but [Glock] is the most popular firearm in the United States.”
... “We are seeing a lot of people coming in specifically for Glocks because they want to get them before a possible ban does go through,” Sprandel said. “So we have seen an uptick in sales, but it’s majority people looking for Glocks.”
Connecticut’s estimated handgun sales increased by 19% from February to March of this year, according to seasonally adjusted data collected by The Trace. Estimated numbers show a 33% increase for March of this year compared to March of last year, the fourth largest increase in the nation.
Opponents of Lamont's legislation have argued that prosecutors need to vigorously go after the small number of individuals who are using illegally-converted pistols in violent crimes, while gun control advocates claim that manufacturers need to redesign their products so that they can't be illegally converted to begin with.
Glock did announce a redesign last fall, but the change didn't satisfy anti-gun groups like Everytown nor their political allies in states like Connecticut. The CT Mirror, though, has discovered that 2A groups like the Connecticut Citizens Defense League are on to something when they say prosecutors can do more to combat the use of illegally-converted pistols.
The number of criminal charges involving machine guns has increased in recent years.
But while the number of charges has increased, the number of convictions has remained the same — in 2025, 46 of the 47 charges for use of a machine gun for aggressive purposes were dropped.
Some gun dealers, like Sprandel, believe the state should convict those charged with related crimes, rather than banning the sale of a specific product.
“If they’re finding these illegal modifications on criminals in Connecticut, how many of these criminals have been tried or convicted of converting a firearm into a fully automatic machine gun?” Sprandel said. “Why are we not going after the criminal? Why are we going after the law-abiding citizen who buys them legally in a gun store?”
Why on earth were more than 90% of charges dropped in cases that involved actually using an illegally-converted pistol in the commission of a crime? I'm not generally conspiratorially-minded, but I'll admit that a part of me wonders if that wasn't an intentional strategy to help make the case for banning the pistols that can be illegally converted, and not just the conversion device itself.
I hope that CT Mirror reporters Sasha Allen and Angela Eichhorst will do a followup piece exploring why the vast majority of these cases weren't prosecuted. In fact, I dropped Eichhorst an email earlier today encouraging her to do just that.
Maybe there's a good explanation for prosecutors taking a pass on the vast majority of criminal cases involving the illegal use of a machine gun, but I can't think of one off the top of my head. I'd also be curious to know what Lamont thinks about that statistic, given that he justified his gun ban bill to the Mirror by arguing "you've got to continue to update your gun safety laws as the bad guys continue to come up with ways to turn recreational firearms into murder weapons.”
Any gun can become a murder weapon (so can any hammer, butcher knife, or fists and feet) without being illegally converted to a machine gun, so Lamont's comment doesn't really make any sense. And given that 46 of 47 cases involving the criminal misuse of an illegally converted firearm were dropped by prosecutors, why isn't the governor raising hell with prosecutors instead of going after some of the most popular pistols in the country and placing them off limits to most residents? The current law isn't being enforced. So why isn't that Lamont's top priority? In fact, why does it seem like it's not even a minor issue for the governor?
