Court: Glock Switches Are 'Arms'
PHOTO CAPTION: ATF/DOJ, Aug. 4, 2023; 1,961 × 1,470; Glock switches on left; actual conversion devices, though illustrative rather than evidence from this sealed case. The image is identified as a U.S. federal government
A federal appeals court has ruled that Glock switches qualify as “Arms” under the Second Amendment, while simultaneously upholding the federal law that prohibits their possession in most circumstances.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reached that conclusion in the case of a sealed juvenile charged with possessing and transferring Glock switches, small conversion devices that can allow a semiautomatic Glock pistol to fire automatically. The court ultimately affirmed the juvenile's conviction.
The unusual part of the ruling came when the Fifth Circuit rejected a lower court's conclusion that Glock switches were not covered by the Second Amendment's plain text.
Writing for the court, Judge Jerry E. Smith said Glock switches are analytically similar to silencers because they can make a firearm more effective by allowing faster follow-up shots. The court concluded that the devices are “undeniably Second Amendment ‘Arms,’” adding that government attorneys had conceded the point during oral arguments.
That finding, however, did not mean the devices were constitutionally protected from regulation.
The Fifth Circuit pointed to its existing precedent holding that machine guns are considered “dangerous and unusual” weapons and therefore do not receive Second Amendment protection. Because federal law treats machine-gun conversion devices as machine guns, the court said the juvenile's constitutional challenge remained blocked by that precedent.
The juvenile had been charged under federal law for possessing and transferring the conversion devices. After the district court rejected challenges to the case, the juvenile admitted to the charges and was sentenced to 19 months of detention followed by supervised release until age 21.
The appeal also argued that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives exceeded its authority by treating a Glock switch as a machine gun. The Fifth Circuit did not decide that question on the merits because it found that the juvenile had waived the issue as part of the appeal.
ATF currently states that machine-gun conversion devices such as Glock switches are illegal to possess under federal law without the required authorization. The agency says illegal possession can lead to criminal prosecution.
The ruling therefore creates an unusual legal distinction: in the Fifth Circuit's view, Glock switches fall within the meaning of “Arms” in the Second Amendment's text, while existing precedent still allows the federal government to prohibit them as dangerous and unusual machine guns.
Source: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Case No. 24-60348
(Source: OAF Nation)
