Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, displays a poster board of people killed by gun violence in Birmingham in 2024 during a debate in the Alabama House of Representatives on March 6, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. The Alabama House Wednesday approved a bill making it a state crime to possess "Glock switches," or devices that turn a semi-automatic firearm into an automatic one. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
The Alabama House of Representatives Thursday approved a bill banning a firearm modification known as a “Glock switch” that converts semi-automatic handguns into fully automatic weapons.
SB 116, sponsored by Sen. Will Barfoot, R-Pike Road, passed the House 77-23. The legislation, the first gun restriction to pass the Alabama House since 2010, was amended by the chamber and goes back to the Senate for concurrence or a conference committee.
Possession of Glock switches is already a federal crime, but supporters of the bill say making it a state offense will allow prosecution without transfers of jurisdiction. Birmingham police say Glock switches were used in a mass shooting in Birmingham last September that killed four people and left 17 injured.
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The legislation mirrors federal law. A person who owns or sells the combination of parts that create a Glock switch is guilty of a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $15,000 fine. The legislation does not apply to law enforcement or people that register their firearm with the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.
“That just exempts anything that is already exempt under federal law,” said Rep. Phillip Ensler, D-Montgomery, who carried Barfoot’s bill in the House and sponsored a Glock switch ban that passed the House last year but did not get a vote in the Senate.
During debate over the measure, Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, displayed a poster with photos of victims of gun violence in Birmingham.
“Good, bad or ugly, they are still someone’s child,” she said. “I’m not coming here to discuss this issue for any other reason than I see this every day. It impacts so many that I know.”
The bill is part of a broader public safety package prioritized by Gov. Kay Ivey and legislative leaders.
“We will expand Aniah’s law, boost our successful Metro Area Crime Suppression Unit, ban Glock switches, and we will enhance supervision of high-risk juveniles. Working together, we will create a safer Alabama,” Ivey said in her State of the State address in February.
The chamber passed a committee substitute 85-16 that would make the legislation effective immediately.
“I want to briefly thank so many for their collaboration on this. I know many have called for this for many years,” Ensler said.
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Author: Anna Barrett