Gun shops see surge in sales as Maryland limits Glocks

A new Maryland law banning the sale of most Glocks and other brands of guns with a certain kind of trigger bar is driving customers to Baltimore-area firearms shops in waves, shop owners say.

"There's definitely a lot of anger" toward the law, said Doug Imhoff, owner of Gundalk Weapon Works in Dundalk. "Normal people are being penalized for the acts of criminals, and it's definitely going to incite fear and panic buying in people."

The law, which will take effect on Oct. 1, will ban the sale of guns that have a "cruciform trigger bar." Such weapons can be easily converted into illegal, fully automatic firearm, using a banned device colloquially known as a "Glock switch," though it is not affiliated with the manufacturer. The device overrides the trigger bar, allowing the gun to fire continuously on a single pull of the trigger.

Under the new law signed Tuesday, Maryland residents who already own guns with this specific type of trigger bar will be allowed to use them, but can't resell them to others, except for transfers to family.

Glock didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday afternoon.

The new law has sparked mixed reactions from gun shop owners and training facilities across the region. Yet, shop owners, trainers and researchers agree on one thing: Laws like this usually drive a short-term spike in gun sales, and this is already happening in Maryland.

"Anytime there's a gun law that passes, no matter what it does, people will panic and buy guns," said Erik Shilling, the owner of the Westminster-based Solidarity Firearms Training. "There's a lot of first-time gun owners that are hearing this and will go, ‘I can't get what I need to defend myself' … If I could get a message out to people, I would say, don't worry, you can still get what you need."

After Maryland enacted a ban on assault weapons in 2013, more than 117,000 guns were sold during the first nine months of the year, more than the number of guns sold during the previous two years combined, The Baltimore Sun reported.

A similar uptick happened when the federal government banned assault weapons from 1994 to 2004, said Andrew Morral, a behavioral scientist who co-leads gun policy research with the nonprofit Rand Corp.

"There was a huge rush and a huge surge in the buying of this firearm before the ban went into effect," Morral said. "What makes it somewhat different [from Maryland's law] is that the federal assault weapon ban didn't prevent people who owned the gun already from transferring to other people, so there was still a market for the banned firearms … [in Maryland], I imagine gun owners will be concerned that the value of their weapon has gone down."

One of the reasons the ban alarms some gun shop owners is that Glocks are among the most popular types of guns sold, especially for beginners. The manufacturer is known for "ease of use, reliability, and brand recognition," Imhoff said.

While possessing a switch, or a gun adapted with a switch, is a felony in Maryland, modified firearms are often found at crime scenes, especially in Baltimore. Mayor Brandon Scott said in 2024 that Baltimore Police found 65 modified Glocks at crime scenes, compared to 34 in 2023.

That uptick prompted a wave of lawsuits against Glock's manufacturer in recent years, including one filed by Baltimore City and the state last February.

"Glock has, for a very long time, been selling guns that are readily convertible to machine guns that are federally illegal, and for some reason, Glock has been getting away with it," Shilling said.

Right now, it's not entirely clear how many guns will be banned in Maryland once the new law takes effect.

A new generation of Glocks was designed to make them harder to modify, and shop owners say the Maryland State Police have not yet included the new models on its list of banned guns.

State Police declined to comment.

"A lot of people have been waiting for the Gen 6 Glocks," said Dave Shindle, the owner of Maryland Firearms in Dundalk. "We have high hopes that people will still be able to buy Glocks, just not ones that are easily convertible."

Imhoff, of Gundalk Weapon Works, said he's worried that State Police may add the new Glocks to the list of banned guns in the coming months. He said his shop has been stocking up as more customers are looking to buy Glocks before the ban takes effect, and called Maryland's new law a "huge detriment to the gun industry."

"I'd argue that 99.999% of people who come through our gun shop are law-abiding citizens," Imhoff said. "These people have invested a lot of time, a lot of education … They're not the demographic that are out doing this. It's the illegal guns that people have stolen from cars, or are being passed around from criminal to criminal."

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This story was originally published May 27, 2026 at 7:43 PM.