NRA Sues Maryland Over Glock Ban

The NRA filed a federal lawsuit against Maryland officials Tuesday, hours after Governor Wes Moore signed a law that bans the sale of Glock and similar pistols statewide.

State of play: Maryland's new law prohibits the manufacture, sale, purchase, receipt, or transfer of any semiautomatic pistol with a cruciform trigger bar — the design feature that makes a firearm susceptible to a "Glock switch" auto-conversion device. State Police must publish a list of banned models before the law takes effect January 1, 2027. Violations carry up to three years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Catch up quick:

• The NRA is joined by the Firearms Policy Coalition and Second Amendment Foundation in the federal complaint
• Named defendants: Governor Moore, Attorney General Anthony Brown, and State Police Superintendent Michael Jackson
• Maryland Shall Issue, a local gun rights group, announced it will file a separate challenge "shortly"

The legal question: The complaint rests primarily on D.C. v. Heller (2008), arguing Glocks are among the most commonly owned handguns in America — which puts them squarely in the category of arms protected by the Second Amendment's plain text. The NRA's filing also notes that the underlying problem — pistol converters — is already illegal under both federal and state law.

"Instead of going after criminals and enforcing existing laws, [Moore] has chosen to disarm law-abiding Marylanders and strip them of their constitutional rights." — John Commerford, Executive Director, NRA Institute for Legislative Action

Reality check: Maryland framed the law as a response to "DIY machine guns" showing up at crime scenes. That's a real problem. But the mechanism they chose — banning the base firearm because a third-party illegal device can be attached to it — is legally shaky ground. By that logic, as Second Amendment Foundation's Adam Kraut put it, you'd ban hops and barley to stop drunk driving.

What to watch: The lawsuit is in U.S. District Court for Maryland, represented by Cooper & Kirk, PLLC. With Maryland Shall Issue filing a parallel complaint, there could be two active challenges running simultaneously. Courts will have to weigh whether a firearm's susceptibility to illegal modification is enough to strip it of Second Amendment protection — a question with implications well beyond Maryland.