Glock

A federal judge has temporarily blocked a Connecticut law that would have banned the sale of so-called "convertible pistols," handgun designs that lawmakers say can be easily modified to fire automatically. The law, passed along party lines earlier this year, was set to take effect this week but was halted after Glock sued the state. U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley ruled the ban is "likely unconstitutional" under the Second Amendment, citing recent Supreme Court precedent on firearm regulations.

The ruling gives Glock, whose handgun models were among those targeted, a preliminary legal victory. State Sen. Rob Sampson, a gun rights advocate, called the law "poorly conceived" and praised the decision. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said the state disagrees with the court and will continue defending the law, setting up further litigation over the measure's future.

More than 90 new Connecticut laws take effect October 1, including a ban on so-called "convertible pistols," new limits on license plate-reading camera data, and expanded distracted driving rules. The pistol measure, passed after contentious debate, targets design features in Glock handguns that Democrats say make them easy to convert into automatic weapons using illegal "Glock switches," a conversion already outlawed. Glock is suing the state over the ban, and Republicans argue it unfairly restricts law-abiding gun owners and retailers.

Separately, a new law caps retention of license plate-reader data at 21 days, a rare point of agreement between Democratic and Republican legislators, some of whom want an even stricter seven-day limit next session amid distrust of government data collection. Drivers will also face tighter distracted driving enforcement, as state law now explicitly bans watching video on a phone while driving, alongside existing texting and calling prohibitions.

More than 90 new Connecticut laws take effect October 1, including a ban on "convertible pistols" targeting design features found in Glock handguns, which lawmakers say are especially prone to illegal conversion into automatic weapons via so-called "Glock switches." Such conversions and the switches themselves were already illegal, but Democrats who passed the measure argued the added restriction addresses a proliferation of illegal conversion devices. Republicans countered that it unfairly punishes law-abiding gun owners and retailers. Glock is now suing the state over the ban.

The same day also brings new privacy protections, with a 21-day limit on how long police can retain data from license plate-reading cameras, a rule that lawmakers from both parties want to tighten further next session, potentially to seven days as recommended by the state's police training board. Separately, distracted driving rules will be expanded to explicitly ban watching video on a phone while driving.

Connecticut's new October 1 laws include a Glock design ban, license plate camera limits, and expanded distracted driving rules.