Glock V pistols, coming November 2025 (in the US)
On November 30, the US market will see the launch of the new V series of Glock pistols to replace almost all existing models. But why?
Glock V pistols, coming November 2025 to the US market
The Glock V pistols will begin distributing on the US market on November 30, shortly after the phasing-out of production of most existing Glock pistols – once again, that we know of, for the US market only
Early news were leaked on October 21 by The Glock Store, an independent retailer based in Nashville (Tennessee), only to be confirmed the following day with an E-Mail by Glock, Inc. – the north American subsidiary of the famous Austrian gunmaker, headquartered in Smyrna (Georgia) – following a request for clarifications from The Firearm Blog: on November 30, almost all existing Glock pistols on the US market will be replaced by the new Glock V series of handguns.
Only a couple of days before, the Internet had gone a-buzz with a mixture of curiosity, despair, and anger after the official Glock USA website had moved most of the company's existing pistol models in the "Discontinued" section.
Those who are waiting for a revolution in form-factor for the Glock line of pistols, however, are likely in for a huge let-down. Details will be known on November 30 at the latest – or, more likely, sometime earlier – but according to leaks and credible information, the V series Glocks will be nothing more than existing Glock models with a modified trigger, sear, and slide that will make them incompatible with the infamous "Glock Switch" in all its current incarnations.
Little known in Europe and in most Countries so far, but tragically widespread in the US black market, these small devices can be easily installed on most Glock pistols upon field-stripping, replacing the original slide end cap, and will convert the gun to select-fire operation, generally with a button or a toggle-switch that allow the shooter to go from semi-automatic to full-automatic fire.
Glock V series pistols will be modified to prevent the installation and use of the infamous "Glock Switch", in any variant
"Glock switches" have long been sold in various forms and variants, largely machined out of steel and aluminum, via Chinese drop-shipping websites where they were advertised as "Manual safeties for airsoft Glock clones". An international crackdown on those websites however only contributed to their proliferation within the underworld in US cities, as designs started to circulate on the Internet that allow them to be manufactured at home, either in metal or polymer, with a simple 3D printer.
On October 16, 2025, democrat anti-gun Governor of California Gavin Newsom signed AB1127, a new law that will go into effect in July 2026 and will ban the sale of new Glock pistols in California. The excuse for the passage of such a draconian law was – you guessed it – the popularity of "Glock switches" among the criminal underground of Californian cities.
The most popular version of the infamous "Glock Switch", nowadays more often found in 3D-printed variants after the crackdown on sketchy websites that sold the machined steel or aluminum variants
AB1127 is likely to be struck down by the Supreme Court of the United States, giving SCOTUS' approach to Second Amendment rights and all relevant precedents in the past decade or so, particularly in terms of protection of "common" guns from bans.
The decision to phase out all existing models and replace them with the V series would thus seem to indicate that Glock may be less worried about California's new law – and about similar laws that other anti-gun democrat local administrations seem willing to pass elsewhere in the United States – and more worried about the civil lawsuits that several city administrations, such as those of Seattle and Chicago (again, run by anti-gun democrats) have moved against the company specifically due to the compatibility of Glock pistols with the switches.
Being completely incompatible with "Glock switches", the upcoming Glock V series pistols thus seem to be a solution to a legal issue that may cost Glock millions of dollars in damages – even if tied to frivolous lawsuits filed with partisan courts by local and State administrations run by a political party that's notoriously hostile to Second Amendment rights.
It's hitherto unclear whether (or when) Glock V series pistols will also replace existing Glock pistols on other markets, such as in Europe. What's for certain, however, is that this case will raise more than a question about where we should draw the line between innovation, which is always well accepted, and a futile race against both the expedients of the criminal underworld – which by definition does not obey the law and is constantly engaged in finding ways to go around any obstacle to its activities – and the temper tantrums of the anti-gun lobby, hell-bent to destroy the legitimate firearms industry, all related business, and cancel gun rights around the world no matter the cost.