Regulates pistol converters and convertible pistols

• Democratic88
• Republican1

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Zellnor Myrie says this is needed

Pistol converters, a type of auto-sear commonly known as a "Glock Switch," pose a rising significant threat to public safety because they can be and increasingly have been used to quickly and easily convert semi-automatic pistols into fully automatic machine guns, bypass current prohibitions against the manufacture, sale, and possession of machine guns in the state of New York and on a Federal level. These pistol converters are known as "Glock Switches" because the design of Glock pistols and other pistols that replicate those designs - makes them uniquely susceptible to this type of illegal conversion. Because of their small size and simple design, pistol converters are often obtained illegally through overseas channels and can also be manufactured through the use of 3D printing. These pistol converters and a screwdriver are all a person needs to transform single-fire, semi-automatic pistols into illegal, fully automatic weapons, dramatically increasing their lethali- ty and enabling them to fire continuously with a single pull of the trigger, at rates of up to 1,200 rounds per minute. The current gun violence crisis facing the nation has worsened as the illegal manufac- ture, sale, and possession of pistol converters and easy conver sion of convertible pistols into machine guns have become more frequent. The ATF recently announced in January 2024 that they have recovered more than 31,000 machine gun conversion devices, including Glock switches, over the past five years - a drastic increase compared to previous time peri- ods. Numerous violent crimes have been perpetrated with illegally modi- fied handguns equipped with pistol converters, with notable occurrences in a mass shooting in Sacramento that killed 6 people and injured 12 others where one of the gunmen involved converted a pistol with the use of a pistol converter (2022). Within the State of New York, these "Glock switches" have been uncovered in multiple police investigations in areas such as Poughkeepsie, Suffolk County, Syracuse, Buffalo, Troy, Brooklyn, Tuckahoe, and Queens. This includes a horrific 2022 incident where a man shot and killed a father visiting his son at Marist College in the lobby of a hotel in an unpro- voked attack using a Glock pistol equipped with a switch. As the market for these illegal devices grows, so do the public safety concerns as these illegal devices place communities at risk of heightened gun violence. Despite this rising danger-and despite knowing that the design of its pistols makes these easy conversions possible-manufacturers of convertible pistols have taken no action to fix this problem and prevent the easy conversion of their pistols into machine guns. This bill will hold firearm companies that produce convertible pistols accountable for their failure to address this problem and the dangers it poses to New York State. It is intended to incentivize them to take steps to update their design to prevent the continued misuse of their products. By restricting sales of convertible pistols in New York, the bill will create a financial incentive for these companies to change the designs of their products so they can no longer be easily converted into a machine gun simply by the installation of a pistol converter. The bill would not place any new restrictions on convertible pistols that have previously been sold in New York or those currently lawfully possessed by New Yorkers. These pistols would remain lawful to possess and carry throughout the state by those licensed to do so. Only future sales and transfers of convertible pistols would be prohibited, subject to the numerous exceptions in the bill. Only companies that manufacture and sell convertible pistols-namely Glock and makers of copycat weapons that duplicate the designs that make Glock pistols uniquely susceptible to easy conversion into machine guns--would be impacted by the new prohibition. Other than Glock and those who duplicate its designs, no other major manufacturer pro

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.