SACRAMENTO, Calif., July 2 (Our California Times) — California’s new law barring licensed gun dealers from selling certain semiautomatic pistols that can be readily converted into machine guns took effect Wednesday, and the Justice Department filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block it.
Assembly Bill 1127 was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Oct. 10, 2025, according to the state legislative record and an Assembly statement. The law is chaptered as Chapter 572, Statutes of 2025.
The measure prohibits licensed firearms dealers in California from selling, offering for sale, exchanging, giving, transferring or delivering covered semiautomatic pistols. The legislative record says the law targets pistols with a cruciform trigger bar that can be readily converted by hand or with common household tools into a machine gun using a pistol converter.
The statute also expands California’s definition of “machinegun” to include a machinegun-convertible pistol equipped with a pistol converter. It bars the manufacture, sale, possession or transportation of such a pistol equipped with the device.
The law does not prohibit possession by current owners, and the statute includes exemptions for gun dealers, law enforcement and military agencies in future sales, according to the Assembly’s release and the bill record.
Assemblymembers Jesse Gabriel of Encino and Catherine Stefani of San Francisco authored the bill. Supporters have described it as a response to handguns that can be converted with devices often called Glock switches.
California’s official Handguns Certified for Sale roster has already excluded more than 30 Glock models and more than 100 firearm models overall since early 2026, according to state records cited in reporting.
