Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed a law this week banning Glocks and Glock-style pistols to crack down on illegal "switches" that turn handguns into machine guns. There's just one teeny problem: those switches are already a federal crime.
Genius! When a thing is illegal and criminals keep doing it anyway, the obvious fix is to ban a totally different, perfectly legal thing owned by people who weren't doing it in the first place.
The new law takes effect October 1 and goes after "convertible pistols" — the most popular handgun in America. Lamont and his pals say they're targeting "Glock switches," those little plastic gizmos that let a pistol fire on full auto. Scary stuff. Also: already against federal law. Has been for ages.
So let's run the logic. The switch is illegal. The criminal who buys a switch is, by definition, a criminal who ignores laws. And Connecticut's solution is to write… another law. For the rest of us.
Here's the part Democrats hope you don't notice. The Crime Prevention Research Center went looking for murders committed with these illegally modified Glocks and found 40 of them — from 17 attacks — in the entire country since 2021. Put that next to lightning: the National Weather Service confirmed 81 fatal lightning strikes over that same stretch. You are roughly twice as likely to be killed by the sky as by a "Glock switch." We're banning the most popular handgun in America to stop a thing that kills fewer people than thunderstorms — and is a federal felony to possess regardless.
Connecticut isn't even doing this alone. California beat them to the punch, and Maryland is right behind. Three states, all run by the same crowd, all discovering that the way to fight criminals is to inconvenience everyone except the criminals.
You don't think Lamont knows the switch is already banned, do you? Of course he does. This was never about the switch. The switch is the excuse. The Glock is the target.
That's how this game always works. They find a scary word — "machine gun," "convertible," "switch" — and they staple it to the gun you're allowed to own so they can take that one too. Next year it'll be a different scary word and a different legal gun.
Meanwhile the guy with the actual illegal switch in his actual illegal gun is not filling out a single form on October 1. He committed a federal crime to get the thing. A Connecticut state statute is not going to ruin his afternoon.
So congratulations to the lawful gun owners of Connecticut. You've been handed a brand-new way to become a criminal — by owning the same pistol you legally bought yesterday — all to stop a crime that was already a crime, committed by almost nobody. Hand it over and feel safer, sheep.
We'll check back in a year to see if the bad guys followed the new rules. I'll go ahead and predict the answer now, and I won't need a follow-up.
