Judge Lets Maryland Glock Ban Stand

A federal judge in Maryland just told gun owners to wait their turn.

What happened: The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland denied a preliminary injunction motion in Bathras v. Moore on Friday, refusing to pause a new state law restricting pistols that can be readily converted into machine guns with a switch. Judge Richard D. Bennett issued the ruling orally after arguments; a written opinion is expected later.

State of play: The lawsuit challenging the law was filed just days earlier, on September 22. That's a fast turnaround for a decision with this much riding on it — and it means the ban stays on the books while litigation grinds forward.

Preliminary injunctions hinge on two questions: does the law inflict serious harm on people's rights right now, and do the plaintiffs have a solid shot at winning on the merits? Bennett apparently answered no to both, at least for now.

Reality check: There's little hard data showing switches or convertible pistols are driving any meaningful spike in violent crime. What the record does show is that Glocks and similar pistols are among the most common handguns in America — carried by cops, sold at every gun counter, and owned by millions of law-abiding people who will never touch a switch. That's exactly the kind of "in common use" argument that's carried the day in other post-Bruen challenges.

Between the lines: Maryland isn't writing this law in a vacuum. States pushing these restrictions seem to be betting that enough incremental bans eventually add up to acceptance. History suggests the opposite — each new restriction becomes another test case, and gun-rights litigants have been winning more of those fights than they lose since Bruen reset the standard.

What's next: This was only round one. The case continues in district court, and either side can appeal — all the way to the Fourth Circuit and, if it comes to that, the Supreme Court. Given how the high court has treated "common use" arguments for standard handguns, Maryland's position isn't the strong hand the state thinks it's holding.

The bottom line: The ban is law in Maryland today, but this fight is nowhere near over — and the legal ground under Maryland's feet is shakier than the ruling suggests.