The Department of Justice on Wednesday told California state officials it plans to sue if they enforce a law banning Glocks that goes into effect on July 1.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said she sent a letter to California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta telling them to drop what she called “unconstitutional restrictions on law-abiding citizens’ rights to purchase legal firearms.”
“Californians have the constitutional right to acquire and use state-of-the-art handguns to protect themselves,” Dhillon said in the letter. “They should not be forced to settle for decade-old models of handguns to ensure that they remain safe inside or outside the home.”
The law, Assembly Bill 1127, was signed in October 2025. It bars licensed firearms dealers from selling or delivering “any semiautomatic machinegun-convertible pistol.” Included in the law is the reclassification of Glocks as machinegun-convertible as they have trigger mechanisms that can be changed into fully automatic weapons.
Dhillon told Newsom and Bonta in the letter that she will consider not filing the complaint if the state expresses interest in pre-suit negotiations. Such a resolution would require the state to: immediately cease enforcement of the law; acknowledge the unconstitutionality of these laws; and agree to enter into a court-enforceable consent decree permanently enjoining it “from violating its citizens’ constitutional rights through these or any similar laws.”
State officials were given a 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline to respond to the DOJ.
