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UPDATED 2:22 PM PT April 14, 2020 PUBLISHED April 14, 2020 at 2:32 PM PT PUBLISHED April 14, 2020 at 2:32 PM PDT
Glock Switch Illegal
LOS ANGELES - The coronavirus pandemic hasn't stopped federal authorities in Los Angeles from tracking down thousands of illegal machine gun conversion kits that have been imported into the United States from other countries.
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Converters, often referred to as “Glock converter switches,” are smaller than the size of a coin, but can turn a Glock pistol into a fully automatic weapon.
Agents with the ATF, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives, worry that these devices could end up in the hands of criminals, especially at a time when the gun trade is on the rise.
"It's a piece of metal, actually three pieces. They sit here on the back of the slide and turn this firearm into a fully automatic firearm," said Stephen Galloway, assistant special agent in charge of the ATF in Los Angeles. "If you had a high-capacity magazine, you'd shoot about 30 rounds at a time, or you'd be shot."
Galloway says the ATF has tracked shipments of these devices from overseas, and some are even manufactured right here in Southern California.
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"We've seen cases here in Los Angeles where they're done at home or in a machine shop," Galloway said.
Jack Brandhorst, owner of Red Rifle Gun Shop, has never handled a switch, but he can take a gun apart in seconds and show us how someone would set it up.
"I can't speak for what people think. We have a lot of customers here who want things that people don't have — they see it in the movies. They want to be the bad mom, but it's serious and it's also very dangerous," Brandhorst said.
Brandhorst said no one has ever asked him about these converters, which only work with Glock handguns, but some have been curious about fully automatic weapons.
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"I've had idiots ask how to turn a rifle into a full auto and I send them on their merry way," Brandhorst said.
"It's pretty scary to speak from the perspective of a former street officer who shows up knowing someone might have a machine gun and I don't have enough fire to compete with that," Galloway said.
Galloway added that in one of the ATF cases, they identified 4,000 converter switches smuggled into the United States and were able to recover more than 3,000 of them. But hundreds of those shipments are still out there somewhere, made by other manufacturers.
"They're dangerous and we're doing everything we can to get them off the streets," Galloway said. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. () - A small illegal device that was used in mass shootings in the US is now showing up in Alabama cities. It's called auto-fire, but it's more commonly known as a Glock trigger. Converts the Glock pistol, a popular semi-automatic handgun, into a machine gun.
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As violent crime continues to rise at an alarming rate in Jefferson County, law enforcement reached out to 6 on Your Side to raise awareness and educate the public.
Glock switches are smaller than a quarter, cheap and undemanding. Birmingham police didn't quite understand what they were seeing when the first trigger-operated guns appeared in the city.
"We knew when we saw them, the gun looked different than it was made, so we started checking with the ATF," explained BPD Chief Scott Thurmond. "I was shocked because this is a huge threat to our society."
The device sits on the back of the Glock and allows the user to switch between semi-auto and full-auto. When engaged, the switch depresses the trigger mechanism to act as a machine gun.
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"For every trigger pull, multiple shots are fired," added ATF Special Agent Ashley Lightner, who oversees the agency's affairs in Alabama. "It can fire at a rate of eleven to twelve hundred rounds per minute. It is very dangerous to innocent bystanders. It is not a precision weapon."
Lightner, ATF agents and local officers demonstrated firepower at a local shooting range. With the Glock 17, the pros fired fifteen rounds from a semi-automatic weapon and repeated it using the Glock's trigger.
Those rounds were fired with the Glock trigger in just over a second, compared to six seconds with the semi-automatic trigger.
"Lack of control, just spraying bullets everywhere," Thurmond said. "It's not a targeted shooting, so there are a lot of innocent people who can be hurt just by using them."
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"When they're inaccurate, the concern is that when one person is trying to shoot another person, there's a good chance that an innocent bystander is nearby, and there's a good chance that they're going to get shot," Lightner said. "And we've seen too much of that in our community and across this country."
BPD started seeing Glock switches in Birmingham about a year ago. ATF confirms that incidence in the Southeast has increased over the past three months.
"We hear it on ShotSpotter pretty regularly, so we know it's available in our city," Thurmond added.
ShotSpotter is a police tool that maps shootings across the city. BPD played a recording of a recent ShotSpotter report in which they believe a Glock trigger is being used. We clearly heard 26 gunshots within seconds.
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Earlier this year, BPD recovered a Glock trigger-operated handgun in an officer-involved shooting. Although they did not directly experience this fire, it is changing the way employees do their jobs.
"To see that the gun has something that can be hidden in someone's pocket, in their waistband or somewhere else, with the ability to fire a lot of rounds extremely quickly," Thurmond said.
According to the ATF, most of the devices come from overseas or are domestically produced, making them easy to find.
"It's pretty simple," Lightner admitted. “You can get them on the street. Over the past few years we've seen prices online ranging from $15 to $30, but recently we've seen them go up to $150 online here. You could probably get them on the street for a lot more, up to $1000.
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"There is no state law that bans Glock switchblades or submachine guns, although other states do," said Prim Escalona, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. “Alabama doesn't have that.
So far, the Escalona office is prosecuting one case from Tuscaloosa. It is important to note that the Glock trigger itself violates federal law.
"It carries a penalty of up to ten years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000," she explained. "Part of what we want to do is get these very dangerous, high-powered firearms and Glocks off the streets before they can be used in a homicide or other violent crime."
Law enforcement wants the public to know what these devices look like and what they are capable of. If you see a Glock switch or know someone who has one, you're asked to call the police.
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"There's going to be parents who find it on guns, there's going to be people whose boyfriend or girlfriend might see it, and we want you to get in touch with us," Thurmond said.
Machine guns are not illegal for those who are not prohibited from carrying a gun. You can learn more here: https://www.atf.gov/firearms
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