Alabama law will soon mirror federal statute when it comes to the possession or manufacture of machine gun conversion devices, after the state Senate gave its final stamp of approval to a bill banning the switches and auto sears on Tuesday. 

Gov. Kay Ivey called for the ban in her State of the State address back in January, so it’s a virtual certainty that she’ll sign SB 116 into law once it reaches her desk. 

SB116, brought forth by Sen. Will Barfoot, R-Montgomery, would make possessing any part or combination of parts designed and intended to convert a pistol into a machine gun, often known as Glock switches, punishable by a term between 366 days and 10 years, according to state code. 

The Senate approved the bill with an amendment brought forth in the House that will put the proposed law into effect immediately if Ivey signs it.

“I am grateful for the overwhelming, bipartisan support,” said Rep. Philip Ensler, D-Montgomery, who brought forth the House version of the bill earlier this month and has been credited with assisting Barfoot with his version.

“I look forward to…this important measure becoming law,” Ensler wrote in a previous statement.

Now, even if you’re in favor of regulating or prohibiting switches and auto sears, the broad languge of SB 116 is pretty troubling. These switches are inexpensive and relatively easy to make using a 3D printer, which raises the question of whether individuals could be charged simply for possessing the plastic or polymer fiber that could be used to make anything from a switch to a figurine of John Moses Browning. The punishment for violating the law is pretty broad as well, leaving it up to a judge to decide if someone convicted of possessing a device should spend a year or a decade in prison for the non-violent, possessory offense. 

Another concern with SB 116 is an amendment attached to the bill in the Senate that allows for prosecution even if the owner of the device didn’t “knowingly” possess it. A new gun owner who purchases a pistol in a private sale could be completely unaware that the previous owner illegally installed a switch, but that won’t stop them from being prosecuted or sent to prison if the switch is discovered by law enforcement first. 

Despite arguments from Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, and Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, that the state’s new permitless carry policy could be to blame for increased gun violence, Barfoot has said that “guns and conversion devices are not the real problem.”

“The real problem are the people who use those,” he said previously.

He has also said recently that regulating firearm devices is a “balancing act” with 2nd Amendment rights.

I get the feeling that SB 116 was both an attempt by the GOP majority to “do something” about the spike in violent crime in Birmingham last year and an effort to shift the discussion away from the Democratic attacks on the state’s permitless carry law. Since possession of machine gun conversion devices is already a federal felony offense, anyone in Alabama who’s caught with one could have their case referred to the U.S. Attorney for prosecution, but now lawmakers can take credit for taking action without enacting any gun control measure that wasn’t already in place at some level of government. 

In that sense, SB 116 is far better than the repeal of permitless carry that’s been pushed by Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin and the relatively few Democrats serving in the state legislature. Still, with homicides down by more than 25% in the city this year, it’s pretty clear that what was really needed in the city was a focused effort on deterring repeat offenders. Since the start of the year a “special enforcement team” set up in the Birmingham PD has taken 80 guns away from those not allowed to possess them, but only five of them had machine gun conversion devices attached. As Barfoot said previously, the real problem is the person using a gun to commit a crime, not the guns (or conversion devices) themselves. Sadly, though Barfoot said the right thing, that didn’t stop him and a broad coalition of Republicans and Democrats from going after anyone who possesses the devices instead of the violent offenders who are responsible for the mayhem and misery inflicted by their crimes.