On Wednesday, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon announced a DOJ lawsuit against California over that state’s Glock ban.

Dhillon had already signaled the suit the was coming, warning Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) that the DOJ would file the suit if they followed through with letting the ban take effect today, July 1, 2026.

In a DOJ press release, Dhillon said, “The Civil Rights Division will defend law-abiding citizens from states that seek to disarm them illegally. This lawsuit is yet another example of this Justice Department enforcing the Second Amendment by protecting citizens against unconstitutional state regulation of firearms.”

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche observed:

The Second Amendment is a sacred right belonging to all Americans, even those in California. California cannot ban the most popular type of handgun in America. We will work to stop this blatant trampling of our rights by the California government to protect the rights of lawful gun owners.

Breitbart News reported that Newsom signed California’s Glock ban on October 10, 2025.

The ban was sponsored by Democrat lawmakers and fashioned as a response to the use of “Glock switches,” which are already illegal. “Glock switches” are federally prohibited plastic pieces that can be affixed to the rear of a Glock slide to make the pistol shoot full auto.

Breitbart News noted the language of the Glock ban legislation,  reporting that Democrats secured passage of the ban by labeling Glocks as “machinegun-convertible pistol[s].”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. He is a lever action man in an AR-15 world. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.