DALLAS — A small and inexpensive device that converts an ordinary pistol into a dangerous and illegal machine gun is on the rise locally and is one of the biggest challenges facing law enforcement, Dallas’ top cop said.
Glock switches, quarter-sized converter devices that can snap onto Glock-style pistols, can shoot 35 rounds in five seconds, Dallas police Chief Eddie García said at a recent community meeting in northeast Dallas. He said police have seized 775 Glock switches so far in 2022, including some used in aggravated assaults in Dallas.
It wasn’t immediately clear how that compares with last year, but North Texas federal authorities and Fort Worth police also noted an apparent uptick in use of the converter devices this year.
“We’re just starting to see a rise in it,” García told community members. “It is extremely frightening.”
You can make the switch in about 45 minutes if you have “a little bit of knowledge” and a 3-D printer, which costs less than $200, García said. Once the switches are attached to a semi-automatic handgun, the weapon can be made fully automatic, the chief said. One pull of the trigger can spray dozens of rounds.
Authorities file federal charges against people found with the switches, but they also hope to go after manufacturers, García said. He said many switches come from overseas, which makes the problem “very, very difficult” to combat. Now, they’re increasingly made with 3-D printers — which make them more accessible.
“We need to have an awareness out there for all of us,” García said. “That’s what my men and women are facing.”
Glock switches have been a problem for years, but appear to be spiking in cities nationwide. The number of switches recovered by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives rose from 100 in 2017 to about 1,500 last year, a bureau spokesperson told NPR this fall. Increases have been reported in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Ohio, Connecticut, Hawaii, Texas and elsewhere.
The devices have been used in mass shootings in the United States, including one in Sacramento this spring that killed six people and wounded 12 others, The Los Angeles Times reported.
They’ve also been used against police. In Houston, Officer William Jeffrey was killed in 2021 and another officer was wounded when a man opened fire with a Glock handgun equipped with the converter device as police tried to arrest him, The Houston Chronicle reported. The gunman, Deon Ledet, was killed in the shootout with police.
A few months later, three other Houston police officers were wounded when a suspected gunman, Roland Caballero, unleashed a barrage of automatic gunfire with a handgun equipped with a switch, according to The Chronicle. Caballero was charged with carjacking, using a machine gun in the commission of a crime, possession of a machine gun, and felon in possession of a firearm. It was unclear whether he had an attorney.
The devices are classified as machine guns under federal law and are illegal to possess. They can be compared to bump stocks on rifles, which became illegal in 2019 when the Justice Department determined they fall within the legal definition of a machine gun.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas has flagged the increased use of Glock switches recently, saying in a November news release that a pistol equipped with a conversion device can fire up to 1,200 rounds per minute, which is faster than standard machine guns issued to the U.S. military.
Just last month, a Fort Worth man was arrested on a federal charge of possession and transfer of machine guns after authorities said he manufactured and sold thousands of the gun conversion devices.
Xavier Desean Watson told an undercover ATF agent he could make about 400 switches a day using two 3-D printers in his home, according to federal authorities, who said in a news release they also arrested three others who sold switches made by Watson. The ATF seized 650 conversion devices — which also includes “sears,” converters used on semi-automatic rifles — through the investigation, according to the news release.
“Imagine hardened criminals armed not only with pistols, potentially lethal in their own right, but also with automatic firearms rivaling those carried by the U.S. military,” U.S. Attorney Chad E. Meacham said in the release. “These half-inch pieces of plastic are putting our people at risk.”
The case against Watson is pending. His attorney, James G. Graham, said in a written statement the federal prosecution just started and they “look forward to a complete and fair process regarding Mr. Watson.”
At least three other North Texans were among multiple people nationwide accused of possessing a switch in recent years.
In one of those cases, Karo Khudanyan pleaded guilty in 2021 for possession of an unregistered firearm after Arlington police pulled him over for speeding and found an altered Glock 19. Khudanyan, who lived in Grand Prairie, said he bought the switch from a Chinese website, according to court records. He was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison last year.
An Irving man, Ramon Navarro, also pleaded guilty on several possession counts in 2021 after authorities said he had at least six Glock pistols with the illegal attached conversion device, and an additional four machine gun converter devices, according to court records. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
