Glock Switch Install - Birmingham, Ala. () - A small illegal device used in mass shootings in America is now showing up in cities across Alabama. It's called an auto SAR, but more commonly known as a bell switch. It converts a Glock pistol, a popular semi-automatic weapon, into a machine gun.
As violent crime continues at an alarming rate in Jefferson County, police have reached out to #6 on your side to warn and educate the public.
Glock Switch Install
Bell switches are smaller than a quarter, cheap and unassuming. So the Birmingham police did not understand what they saw when the first rifles equipped with a switch appeared in the city.
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"We knew when we first saw them that the gun looked different than how it was manufactured, so we started making inquiries with the ATF," explained BPD Chief Scott Thurmond. "I was shocked because this is a huge danger to our community."
The device mounts on the back of the bell and allows the user to switch between semi-auto and full auto. When engaged, the switch overrides the trigger mechanism to function as a machine gun.
"For every pull of the trigger, it fires multiple rounds," added ATF Special Agent Ashley Lightner, who oversees the agency's cases in Alabama. "It can fire up to 11 to 1200 rounds per minute. It is very dangerous for innocent bystanders. It is not an accurate weapon."
Leitner, ATF agents and local officers demonstrated firearms at the local range. Using the Glock 17, the pros fired fifteen rounds from the semi-automatic weapon and repeated it with the Glock switch.
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It took just over a second to fire the rounds with the bell switch compared to about six seconds with the semi-auto.
"There's a lack of control, they're just spraying bullets everywhere," Thurmond said. "It's not targeted fire, so there are a lot of innocent people who could be hurt just by using this."
"When they're inaccurate, the concern is that if one person tries to shoot another person, there's a good chance an innocent bystander will be nearby, and there's a good chance they'll be shot," Leitner said. "And we've seen too much of that in our community and across the country."
BPD started seeing Glock switches in Birmingham about a year ago. The ATF confirms that the incidence has increased in the Southeast over the past three months.
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"We hear him regularly on ShotSpotter, so we know he's out there in our town," Thurmond added.
ShotSpotter is a police tool that maps shootings around the city. BPD released a recent video from a ShotSpotter report in which they believe a Glock switch was used. We could clearly hear 26 rounds fired per second.
Earlier this year, BPD recovered a bell switch pistol in an officer-involved shooting. Although they did not directly confront the fire, it is changing the way police officers do their jobs.
"To see that in a gun, something that can be concealed in someone's pocket, belt or anywhere else with the ability to fire a number of rounds extremely quickly, that's disturbing," Thurmond said.
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According to the ATF, most of the devices come from outside the country or are made domestically, making them easy to track.
"It's pretty simple," Leitner admitted. "You can get them on the street. We've seen prices in the last few years anywhere from $15 to $30 online, we've seen them rise in popularity here recently to as high as $150 online. You can probably get them on The high street for much more than that for $1,000.
"There is no state law that prohibits bell switches or machine guns, although there are in other states," reported Prim Escalona, U.S. it. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. "Alabama doesn't have that."
So far, Escalona's office has prosecuted one case from Tuscaloosa. It is important to note that only the Glock switch violates federal law.
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"It carries up to ten years in federal prison and can have a fine of up to $250,000," she explained. "Part of what we want to do is disrupt and dismantle and get these very dangerous, high-powered firearms and bell switches off the streets before they can be used in a homicide or other violent crime."
The police want the public to know what the devices look like and what they can do. If you see a bell switch or know someone who has one, you are asked to call the police.
"There's going to be parents who find this on guns, there's going to be people you know a boyfriend or girlfriend who may see it and we want you to contact 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 For decades, fully automatic weapons were expensive, expensive and rarely used in crimes. Auto Sears, which can cost less than $20 online, has changed that.
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The Mongolian Boys Society wanted revenge. Six members of a Fresno, California crime gang huddled in a cabin in November 2019, cleaning their weapons in preparation for revenge against the Asian Crips for allegedly killing one of their own.
According to court records, one of the "triggers" carried a Glock pistol with an automatic sealer, a small thimble-sized device that turned his semi-automatic weapon into a machine gun capable of firing 20 rounds per second. Around 8:00 p.m., the team drove across town to a street lined with palm trees. A few moments later, they opened fire on a group in one of the courtyards. Bullets sprayed through the crowd, killing four and injuring six.
But the house was not a rival gang room; The police later determined that the family had gathered there to watch soccer together. Six members of the Mongolian Boys Society were arrested for their alleged involvement in the mass shooting. Three hold the death penalty.
Read next Watch: Machine gun conversion kits are 'everywhere', feds warn. With VICE News, we document the rise of the Auto-Cyre, a small, inexpensive device that turns semi-automatic firearms into automatics. Court records show that Auto Spurs have been used in robberies, murders and extremist attacks.
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An automatic primer—the most common automatic conversion device—turns a semi-automatic pistol into a weapon that can empty an entire magazine with a single pull of the trigger. Also known as switches or chips, auto sabers have been around since the 1970s, but are extremely difficult to obtain legally in the United States, where machine guns cannot be legally owned without a special permit. In recent years, these small metal or plastic devices have exploded in popularity on the black market and gained particular attention among criminals and anti-government extremists. Last year, members of the Boogaloo Boys, an accelerationist movement hoping to spark a second civil war, used weapons equipped with automatic launchers to attack a federal courthouse.
An investigation by The Trace and VICE News found that federal prosecutions involving automatic conversion devices have increased in recent years. From 2017 to 2021, the number of cases jumped from 10 to 83, according to our exclusive analysis of court filings across the country. We have found over 260 cases over the past five years, including robberies, assaults and murders, with more than 1,000 devices recovered. The government has not previously collected this data, and the actual number of illegally converted machine guns on the streets is likely much higher.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the federal agency responsible for police gun control in the US.
"Auto sers are everywhere on the street now," said Jefferey Boshek, a 21-year ATF veteran who now serves as special agent in charge of the Dallas Field Division. "They're one of the scariest things we've faced since I became an agent."
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The rise of the auto SAR is fueled by its availability and ease of use. The US Auto parts are often advertised as airsoft parts or tools and shipped with fake documentation and packaging labels. They can also be created with a 3D printer. Once in your hands, installation can take seconds and requires little technical knowledge or tools.
"It's that simple," said Rick Vasquez, former head of the ATF's Firearms Technology Division. "The information is out there, and the knowledge for it is out there."
Conversion devices can be installed in many types of pistols or rifles, but are especially common for bell pistols. This is due to the internal design of the Glock, which makes its parts easy to access and modify. A Glock spokesman did not respond
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