Senate Bill S399

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S399

SPONSOR: MYRIE
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the  penal law, in relation to the regulation of pistol
converters and convertible pistols

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends subdivision 1 of section 265.00 of the penal law, which
defines "Machine-gun" and adds two new subdivisions 36 and 37 to that
section to define the following terms: "Pistol converter", and "Convert-
ible pistol".

Section 2 amends subdivision 10 of section 265.02 of the penal law, as
added by Chapter 1 of the laws of 2013 by adding a new subdivision 11
that criminalizes the possession of any pistol converter.

Section 3 amends subdivisions 1 and 2 of section 265.10 of the penal law
as separately amended by chapters 34, 130, and 146 of the laws of 2019,
which state the various criminal charges for manufacturing and transpor-
tation of respective illegal weapons and components, to include pistol
              

converters and adds a new subdivision 10 which states criminal charges
for disposing of transporting or shipping as merchandise a convertible
pistol.

Section 4 amends section 265.20 of the penal law, which lists applicable
exemptions to weapons offenses, by adding a new subdivision f, which
states the specified parties to whom a person, dealer, firm, partner-
ship, or corporation may legally dispose of a convertible pistol,
despite the prohibition created in Section 3, such as persons in mili-
tary service at both federal and state levels, police officers, peace
officers, government defense contractors fulfilling their agreements,
and licensed gunsmiths and dealers in firearms.

Section 5 provides for the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Pistol converters, a type of auto-sear commonly known as a "Glock
Switch", pose a rising significant threat to public safety because they
can be and increasingly have been used to quickly and easily convert
semi-automatic pistols into fully automatic machine guns, bypass current
prohibitions against the manufacture, sale, and possession of machine
guns in the state of New York and on a Federal level. These pistol
converters are known as "Glock Switches" because the design of Glock
pistols - and other pistols that replicate those designs -- makes them
uniquely susceptible to this type of illegal conversion. Pistol convert-
ers are not compatible with and cannot convert any other major manufac-
turers' semi-automatic pistols into machine guns. Only Glocks and Glock
copycat weapons can be converted in this manner.

Because of their small size and simple design, pistol converters are
often obtained illegally through overseas channels and can also be manu-
factured through the use of 3D printing. These pistol converters and a
screwdriver are all a person needs to transform single-fire, semi-auto-
matic pistols into illegal, fully automatic weapons, dramatically

increasing their lethality and enabling them to fire continuously with a
single pull of the trigger, at rates of up to 1,200 rounds per minute.

The current gun violence crisis facing the nation has worsened as the
illegal manufacture, sale, and possession of pistol converters and easy
conversion of convertible pistols into machine guns have become more
frequent. The ATF recently announced in January 2024 that they have
recovered more than 31,000 machine gun conversion devices, including
Glock switches, over the past five years - a drastic increase compared
to previous periods. Numerous violent crimes have been perpetrated with
illegally modified handguns equipped with pistol converters, with nota-
ble occurrences in a mass shooting in Sacramento that killed 6 people
and injured 12 others where one of the gunmen involved converted a
pistol with the use of a pistol converter (2022).

Within the State of New York, these "Clock switches" have been uncovered
in multiple police investigations in areas such as Poughkeepsie, Suffolk
County, Syracuse, Buffalo, Troy, Brooklyn, Tuckahoe, and Queens. This
includes a horrific 2022 incident where a man shot and killed a father
visiting his son at Marist College in the lobby of a hotel in an unpro-
voked attack using a Glock pistol equipped with a switch. As the market
for these illegal devices grows, so do the public safety concerns as
these illegal devices place communities at risk of heightened gun
violence. Despite this rising danger and knowing that the design of its
pistols makes these easy conversions possible-manufacturers of converti-
ble pistols have taken no action to fix this problem and prevent the
easy conversion of their pistols into machine guns.

This bill will hold firearm companies that produce convertible pistols
accountable for their failure to address this problem and the dangers it
poses to New York State. It is intended to incentivize them to take
steps to update their design to prevent the continued misuse of their
products. By restricting sales of convertible pistols in New York, the
bill will create a financial incentive for these companies to change the
designs of their products so they can no longer be easily converted into
machine guns simply by the installation of a pistol converter.

The bill would not place any new restrictions on convertible pistols
that have previously been sold in New York or those currently lawfully
possessed by New Yorkers. These pistols would remain lawful to possess
and carry throughout the state by those licensed to do so. Only future
sales and transfers of convertible pistols would be prohibited, subject
to the numerous exceptions in the bill. Only companies that manufacture
and sell convertible pistols- namely Glock and makers of copycat weapons
that duplicate the designs that make Glock pistols uniquely susceptible
to easy conversion into machine guns--would be impacted by the new
prohibition. Other than Glock and those who duplicate its designs, no
other major manufacturer produces semi-automatic pistols that can be
converted into machine guns solely by the installation of a pistol
converter.

If makers of convertible pistols adapt their designs to ensure they
cannot be converted into machine guns simply by installing a pistol
converter, they will no longer be subject to the sale prohibition.
Regardless of when and whether makers of convertible pistols update
their designs, all other major manufacturers' semi-automatic pistols
will remain legal to sell in New York.

The bill will also create a new definition of the pistol converters that
make these simple conversions possible which are already prohibited
under New York and Federal law-and reclassify them in the New York code.
These changes would align the criminal penalties for manufacturing,
transporting, and possessing these dangerous accessories so that they
are treated identically to machine guns, as is currently the case under
federal law.

Finally, the bill will update the definition of 'machine gun' to ensure
that any convertible pistol, when equipped with a pistol converter, is a
machine gun under state law.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

S9225 of 2024-24: Referred to Codes.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have
become a law.