The National Shooting Sports Foundation, Shadow Systems, and Connecticut-based retailer Blue Trail Range filed suit in federal court on September 21 to block a state law that bans the manufacture and sale of commonly owned striker-fired handguns with cruciform trigger bars. The case, National Shooting Sports Foundation v. Griffin, No. 3:26-cv-01528, landed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, with an emergency injunction hearing scheduled before Judge Kari A. Dooley on September 29 — two days before the statute's October 1 effective date. AmmoLand and GunsAmerica both reported the filing.

Connecticut's H.B. 5043 classifies striker-fired pistols with a cruciform-style trigger bar as "convertible pistols" on the theory that their design can be modified — by swapping a slide backplate for an aftermarket machinegun conversion device — to fire automatically. Beginning October 1, importing, advertising, selling, or offering for sale any newly manufactured convertible pistol in Connecticut becomes a Class D felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

The plaintiffs argue the law sweeps in unmodified, entirely lawful handguns that are in common use across the country for personal defense and sport shooting. The verified complaint notes that hundreds of thousands of cruciform-trigger handguns are manufactured annually in the United States and that both state and federal law already independently prohibit the aftermarket automatic conversion devices Connecticut cites. In the NSSF's framing, the state is banning a firearm because a criminal could theoretically modify it — a standard that, taken seriously, could be applied to virtually any semiautomatic platform. Shadow Systems, an American manufacturer of GLOCK-pattern pistols built around the cruciform design, shipped more than $530,000 in products to Connecticut retailers between 2021 and August 2026.

NSSF President and CEO Joe Bartozzi said in a statement that the lawsuit "challenges Connecticut's attempt to close the lawful market to unmodified, legal handguns" and does not contest the state's authority to restrict illegal conversion devices. Shooting News Weekly reports that Glock separately filed its own challenge against the same law on September 21, and Breitbart confirmed both suits were filed the same day.

The September 29 hearing before Judge Dooley will be the first indication of whether the court views the Bruen text-and-tradition framework as a constraint on Connecticut's design-feature theory. A temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction before October 1 would block enforcement during litigation. If no injunction issues, Connecticut dealers will be barred from taking new orders on any handgun the state classifies as convertible, and manufacturers like Shadow Systems face immediate revenue disruption while the constitutional question works through the courts.