Tiny 'Glock Switches' Have Quietly Flooded the US With Deadly Machine Guns

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An investigation by VICE News and The Trace uncovered an alarming surge in criminal cases involving “auto sears” or “switches,” which convert Glock pistols and other common weapons into fully automatic machine guns.

An auto sear—the most common automatic conversion device—transforms a semiautomatic gun into a weapon capable of emptying an entire magazine with a single pull of the trigger. Also known as switches or chips, auto sears have been around since the ’70s but are exceedingly tough to acquire legally in the United States, where machine guns cannot legally be owned without a special license. In recent years, these small metal or plastic devices have exploded in popularity on the black market and gained a particular cachet among criminals and anti-government extremists. Last year, members of the Boogaloo Bois, an accelerationist movement that hopes to spark a second civil war, used weapons equipped with auto sears to attack a federal courthouse.

An investigation by The Trace and VICE News found that federal prosecutions involving automatic conversion devices have spiked in recent years. From 2017 to 2021, the number of cases jumped from 10 to 83, according to our exclusive nationwide analysis of court filings. We found over 260 cases filed in the last five years, including robberies, assaults, and murders, with over 1,000 devices recovered. The government has not previously compiled this data, and the actual number of illegally converted machine guns on the streets is likely far higher.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the federal agency responsible for policing guns in the U.S., said it seized 1,500 weapons modified with auto sears in 2021, a staggering increase over 2020, when only 300 were recovered. “Auto sears are everywhere on the street right now,” said Jeffrey Boshek, a 21-year ATF veteran who now serves as the special agent in charge of the Dallas Field Division. “They’re one of the scariest things we’ve dealt with since I became an agent.” The ascent of the auto sear has been propelled by its availability and ease of use. The American market is largely supplied by China, where manufacturers sell the devices on websites such as Alibaba and Wish.com directly to consumers, law enforcement officials say. Auto sears are often advertised as airsoft parts or tools and shipped with false documentation and packaging labels. They can also be created using a 3D printer. Once they’re in a person’s hands, installation can take just seconds and requires scant technical knowledge or tools.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkp8p8/glock-switches-auto-sears

[mitch96]

1. Scary shit.. As the ATF said the genie is out of the bottle...3d printed and un traceable..uff.nt

[AndyS]

2. It might help if the ATF had a director and funding to keep up with inflation instead of

having their funds cut and being bitched at for doing nothing . . .

[RussBLib]

3. there's another way China can try to beat us

... make conversions into automatics simple to get and use, sit back, and watch America shoot it out! Wild West, baby!

[NickB79]

4. I don't know how we address this

1. We're never going to outlaw semiautomatic weapons. Assault weapon bans? Maybe. Semi auto handguns that 50 million Americans keep for home defense? Nope.

2. You can 3D print these. Even with cheap polymer, it could last thousands of rounds, and then you make another one.

3. Magazine limits would help, but there are hundreds of millions of 20-50 rd mags out there already. And to circle back to #2, you can now 3D-print magazines.

4. It's already a 10-yr felony to possess one, but that isn't much of a deterrent anymore either.

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5. Its the culture that has to change.

Our culture glorifies violence.

[NickB79]

6. I think that may be even more difficult than a gun ban

We've really gone all in with violence and stupidity lately.

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7. Yes, but trying to get rid of guns is utterly futile.