Imagine that you created something that was a bit of a breakthrough in a given field. It changed a lot of things and the products you developed from that breakthrough became the most popular models in your industry.
Now, picture a third party figured out a way to develop something that turned your product into something that is illegal. You don't make this device, and just owning the device is illegal almost everywhere, at least for most people, but it's a thing. Then a foreign nation starts producing them and exporting them to the country that's your largest market.
You've done nothing except make a product that complies with the law and is incredibly popular, but you're still being blamed for stuff you had nothing to do with.
You'd probably be pretty pissed, wouldn't you?
That's literally where Glock is right now, especially as Illinois considers trying to ban them because of third-party-made auto sears.
Three years after Illinois passed a sweeping assault weapons ban in the wake of Highland Park’s Fourth of July mass shooting, state lawmakers are weighing another measure aimed at the firearms industry: requiring some gun manufacturers to redesign pistols so they can’t be easily converted into automatic weapons.
The latest effort by Illinois, long a national leader on gun control, mirrors legislation California passed last year and comes as lawmakers in New York, Connecticut and Maryland consider similar bills.
While supporters say the proposal would make it harder for criminals to obtain fully automatic firepower, gun rights advocates are already lining up to counter that it unfairly punishes manufacturers for the actions of people who illegally modify weapons.
The legislation focuses largely on Glock-style pistols, said Alison Shih, senior counsel for Everytown for Gun Safety. Compared with other brands, Glocks and similarly designed firearms are particularly prone to being manipulated with machine gun conversion devices, also known as “switches” or “auto-sears” — small devices attached to the back of handguns that transform them into automatic weapons. With “15 minutes and common household tools,” Shih said, a person can convert a semiautomatic pistol into one capable of firing multiple rounds with a single pull of the trigger.
Though the switches or auto-sears used to help convert pistols to automatic weapons are already illegal to own under state and federal law, Shih said they can still be purchased overseas or produced with 3D printers using designs readily available online.
“It’s a pretty minor adjustment for them to make,” Shih said.
“It is really akin to being like ‘Please put some seat belts in your car before you sell the vehicle,’” she said of the proposed legislation. “We know this can save lives and sometimes industry needs a little bit of a nudge.”
Except that it's not. Putting seatbelts in a car required a couple of bolts and the belt itself. That was it. I doubt Shih knows the first thing about firearm engineering, so her just popping off that you can just make a quick change and all would be well is her talking out of her posterior.
Besides, Glock already tried that, and it took about five minutes for someone to put a switch on the new design.
Let's remember, though, that Glock never developed the switches. They built a gun that was affordable, reliable, and became the most popular handgun for police and private citizen carry in the country. People carry them because they work. It's just that simple.
Now, through no fault of their own, they're being told that they have to completely redesign their gun if they want to be sold in these anti-gun states--states which already try to make it difficult for them to sell in--all because of the switch that someone else designed, that China started exporting, and that some people make on 3D printers.
That are already illegal under federal law, mind you. Let's not forget that.
The truth of the matter is that if they keep getting away with this, the anti-gunners will just keep trying to dictate to the firearm industry what "features" they must have, all until guns are useless for private use. New Jersey tried it by banning anything but smart guns the moment smart guns became viable, and it backfired on them, as no one wanted to develop them anymore.
This will lead to a reaction that no one is expecting and that these states won't like.
At least, that's what will happen if the courts don't rule they're being idiots and overturn the rules for being moronic and unconstitutional.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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