California has granted approval for a specific model of Glock pistol, as revealed in a recent federal court filing amidst an ongoing lawsuit from the Justice Department.
The legal action arose after Attorney General Rob Bonta of California declined to engage in settlement discussions with Harmeet Dhillon, the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. In response, the DOJ initiated a lawsuit to challenge the Glock measure along with California’s “Unsafe Handgun Act,” seeking a temporary injunction against the Glock prohibition. According to a notification sent to District Judge Monica Ramirez Almadani, a Biden nominee, California indicated that it has approved the Glock 43 model.
The filing stated, “The California Department of Justice’s webpage listing for the new Glock semiautomatic pistol model, Glock 43X CA, does not include a plus symbol next to the model name, which signifies that it is not categorized as a machinegun-convertible pistol according to California Penal Code section 16885 and, therefore, is exempt from restrictions on the sale, transfer, or delivery of such pistols by firearms dealers.”
Pretty strong evidence that their approval may have been motivated by trying to moot this lawsuit. From what I heard, Judge Almadani had some surprisingly tough questions for CADOJ (not that that necessarily means she’d rule against them).
The big question still remaining is… https://t.co/qRHCrIYWag
— Kostas Moros (@MorosKostas) September 30, 2026
The Glock 43, a semiautomatic handgun, is designed to fire the 9x19mm NATO cartridge. It accommodates six rounds in its magazine and weighs just under 21 ounces when loaded, as detailed on Glock’s website.
Some advocates for gun rights have speculated that this approval was an attempt by the state to make the DOJ’s lawsuit irrelevant. A representative for Glock has not yet commented regarding this matter.
“Pretty strong evidence that their approval may have been motivated by trying to moot this lawsuit. From what I heard, Judge Almadani had some surprisingly tough questions for CADOJ (not that that necessarily means she’d rule against them),” noted Konstadinos Moros, Director of Legal Research and Education at the Second Amendment Foundation.
He further stated, “The big question still remaining is whether all redesigned Glocks will be accepted, or if CADOJ is treating the slimline Glocks differently from the traditional ones. The slimlines don’t seem to have experienced the same issues with illegal switches. While the law doesn’t take that into account, it’s uncertain how CADOJ views this.”
In October 2025, California Governor Gavin Newsom enacted AB1127, the first state law that bans Glocks, categorizing them as “machine gun convertible pistols.” Current federal regulations prohibit the possession or production of fully automatic firearms unless they are registered or authorized by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives under the National Firearms Act of 1934.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation’s RightSideofLegal.org highlights the severe penalties for possessing a machine-gun conversion device, which can result in ten years of federal imprisonment and fines reaching $250,000.
