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House committee hears broad testimony supporting ban on easily converted pistols in Maryland
Summary
Supporters told the House Judiciary Committee that small devices known as "Glock switches" make some handguns easily convertible into fully automatic weapons and urged a favorable report on House Bill 1287; prosecutors and Baltimore and Prince George’s City officials described growing recoveries of conversion devices and incidents involving them.
A House Judiciary Committee hearing in March 2025 drew extensive testimony in favor of House Bill 1287, which would ban the manufacture, sale and transfer in Maryland of “convertible pistols” — semi‑automatic handguns that can be turned into fully automatic weapons by attaching a small device commonly called a Glock switch.
Supporters said the devices are inexpensive, easily 3‑D printed and have been linked to recent shootings in Maryland. Delegate Nicole Williams of District 22, the bill’s sponsor, told the committee: "This bill would prohibit a person from manufacturing, selling, offering for sale, purchasing, receiving, or transferring in Maryland a certain convertible pistol, which is a semi automatic pistol that has been converted into a machine gun solely by attaching a switch, that is a type of auto sear." She urged a favorable report.
Nut graf: Proponents — including Baltimore and Prince George’s County prosecutors, public‑safety officials, university students and advocacy groups — framed the bill as a targeted way to reduce access to illegal automatic fire without requiring owners who already legally possess affected pistols to abandon or turn them in. They said convertible pistols have been recovered with increasing frequency at crime scenes in Maryland and that the devices are already illegal but remain easy to obtain or fabricate.
Prince George’s County Deputy State’s Attorney Perry Paylor testified the county recovered 47 Glock switches in 2024 and nine year‑to‑date, and said such devices "dramatically increas[e] the potential for both lethality and mass casualty." Baltimore City representatives said their department recovered roughly 100 convertible pistols between 2023 and 2024 and that recovered switches had nearly doubled from 34 to 64 from 2023 to 2024, as noted in written testimony presented to the committee.
Firearms analysts and industry critics described how the devices operate. Greg Lickenbrock, senior firearms analyst for Everytown for Gun Safety, told the committee Glock‑style trigger bars provide a surface that third‑party switches can contact to force continuous fire and said the devices "cost as little as $20, are easily 3‑D printed and can be installed on the back of a Glock slide in seconds." Witnesses from Baltimore City government and the Baltimore Police Department described incidents they said illustrated the risks: a mass shooting at Morgan State University in October 2023 in which investigators reported the presence of a converted firearm, and a 2023 confrontation in which an individual fired more than 30 rounds with a converted pistol during a police encounter.
Opponents — including representatives of firearm owner groups and the National Rifle Association — said the bill’s language is ambiguous and risks being overbroad because many semi‑automatic pistols can, in theory, be modified to change rate of fire. Mark Panik (Maryland Shall Issue) argued the bill is "sloppily written" and could sweep in law‑abiding commerce and law enforcement replacement purchases. The NRA’s John Weber said conversion devices are already illegal at federal and state levels and that enforcement, rather than banning classes of pistols, should be the focus.
Committee context and next steps: Testimony included legal, technical and policy perspectives; several lawmakers asked about law‑enforcement and retired‑officer exceptions and amendments the sponsor said were under development. Witnesses representing Maryland local governments and prosecutors requested a favorable report; no committee vote was recorded during the hearing.
Ending: The committee received dozens of written and in‑person statements on both sides; some members pressed the sponsor for drafting clarifications and narrow exceptions for law enforcement and retired officers. The hearing record shows strong public‑safety arguments for the bill from prosecutors and city officials and persistent concerns about drafting and scope from gun‑rights groups. The committee may consider amendments clarifying which models and transfers are covered before any vote.
