Invader Zip 🛸

California just banned pistols that can be “converted” into automatic weapons, which in practice means they’ve effectively banned the most common Glock handguns in the country. The law, Assembly Bill 1127, takes effect in 2026 and defines a “machinegun-convertible pistol” as any semi-auto that can be modified “by hand or with household tools.” The justification is that criminals are using illegal switches to turn pistols into machine guns. The reality is that this will do absolutely nothing to stop that. People already breaking the law by converting guns illegally are not suddenly going to start obeying this one. Those same people were never buying their guns through legal California dealers in the first place. So instead of targeting the small number of violent offenders who actually use these illegal switches, California has decided to criminalize the design of a trigger mechanism that’s been standard for decades. This is not about safety. It is about control. If a firearm can theoretically be converted into something illegal, then by this logic, almost any semi-automatic weapon could be banned. You could “modify” nearly anything with the right tools. A hammer can become a weapon. A car can become a weapon. The difference is intent, and intent is not something that can be legislated away. It is also worth remembering that the Second Amendment was never written to guarantee easy hunting or sport shooting. It was written to guarantee that people could protect themselves against threats, including from the state itself. Yet California continues to chip away at that right, piece by piece, while pretending it is for public safety. If the state wanted to make a real impact, it would invest in prosecuting illegal gun traffickers and violent offenders instead of punishing people who followed every rule to own a perfectly legal firearm. Once again, the people who will be most affected by this are the ones who did everything right.