Alabama banned so-called “GLOCK switches” Wednesday — which are already prohibited by federal law — when Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill that makes possession of a full-auto switch a felony in the state punishable by up to 10 years in prison. “While there is a federal ban on these gun conversion devices, we needed a way to empower our own law enforcement here in Alabama to get these illegal and extremely dangerous GLOCK switches off our streets,” Ivey stated.
Alabama Senator Will Barfoot, R-Montgomery, who authored the bill, told the local media that that “guns and conversion devices are not the real problem. The real problem are the people who use those.”
The GLOCK switch ban may not be the last gun-related law that Alabama’s governor gets behind. “Governor Ivey began the legislative session by stating bolstering public safety is her number one priority, and she looks forward to the other bills working their way through the legislative process and reaching her desk,” according to a press release.
An Associated Press story written Tuesday states that the bill had much Democratic support.
The AP story claims Alabama had one of the highest rates of “gun violence” in the country, a comment which is linked to a 2022 graphic from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. Other local news stories contained links to more anti-gun websites, such as Johns Hopkins Annual Firearm Mortality Report.
Those who strongly oppose Second Amendment rights were quick to claim credit for the new law. “The devices are banned under federal law and in 23 states, according to Everytown for Gun Safety. Supporters said a state ban will allow local law enforcement to prosecute people for the possession of the devices,” the AP story states.
Everytown for Gun Safety lauded the Governor’s decision, dedicating a full-page press release to the news, which contains quotes from the anti-gun group’s president, executive director, a local volunteer in Alabama and a “gun violence survivor.”
Takeaways
Gov. Ivey said she believes that creating a new law banning GLOCK switches at the state level will “empower” Alabama law enforcement to go after the problem directly and make arrests, but that may not work as she expected.
Traditionally, state and local law enforcement have been slow to enforce new laws, especially those that duplicate federal statutes. Besides, state and local law agencies may not have the expertise to test and/or testify about the GLOCK switches that may soon be headed their way.
Despite its long list of internal problems, the ATF has successfully prosecuted many GLOCK-switch cases. ATF’s own files are full of successful prosecutions for the devices, which were strengthened by lab support and technical expertise. Many of the federal cases were the result of investigations started by local law enforcement.
Gun rights proponents may not see much negative impact from Alabama’s duplicative GLOCK switch law. The vast majority of gun owners have never even seen one and would certainly never own one. However, Alabama’s new state law is a clear victory for the anti-gunners, who are already using it to raise money, which they will use to propose still more anti-gun laws to further restrict Americans’ gun rights.
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This story is part of the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project and is published here with their permission.
OK. So many things here. First gun control is racist. It has been and still is very racist.
Everyone knows that 99.9% of the people who possess a glock switch are black. And a teenager as well. The other o.1% are black in their early twenty’s.
Did the “gun community” come out against this new gun control law???
Do I really need to check before I say, no they did not.
I wonder how many select fire m16’s are in the state of Alabama? Since the Obama Biden administration supplied thousands of them to civilian law enforcement in that state.
The real problem is that white libertarians liberals and the Leftists said a father is not necessary in the home. They don’t believe a father’s love and discipline are required to help raise well mannered children.
So unfortunately we have thousands of undisciplined young people. Who have machine guns.
The one person who historically trained more people on guns than any group, is the individual father. Not even the military has trained as many recruits as the father in a family has.
Or a brother, or an Uncle, or a grandfather.
Will those same white people start to complain. When all the blacks start getting arrested for illegal machine gun possession?
And will those same white three L’s also complain about the jails being overcrowded???