In New Mexico, police and prosecutors have supported efforts to ban devices that convert guns into machine guns. In Alabama, the governor made him a priority.
Legislators in both Democrats, the other of the Republicans, this year with new laws that make the so-called Glock Switches illegal.
At least half of the US states now have similar laws forbidding possession of such devices, a list that has grown over the last decade, as law enforcement officers have found more than small but powerful devices attached to weapons.
Countries imitate the federal law, which for decades has usually banned machine guns and any parts that can transform semi -automatic weapons into automatic ones.
What does the Federal Law say?
US law defines the machine gun as a weapon that automatically shoots more than one shot with a single trigger. The definition also includes all parts designed to convert a gun into a machine gun.
Federal law prohibits that it has machine guns made after 1986, with some exceptions to law enforcement, military and some licensed dealers. Almost all conversion devices are illegal because they were made sooner.
People convicted of possession of machine guns and conversion devices can be up to 10 years in prison.
What is a Glock switch?
The Glock switch is one type of machine gun conversion. It is a metal or plastic piece, the size of a coin that attaches to the back of Glock Pistol, a brand that is popular in both police and criminals. The switch interferes with the internal components of the trigger of the gun so that it aspires continuously when the trigger is pulled back and holds.
A handgun -equipped pistol can shoot dozens of bullets in seconds, similar to a factory -made machine gun.
Other brands of pistols that mimic Glocks can also be converted into machine guns. This can be some semi -automatic rifles. Such conversion devices are also called automatic Sears, selector switches or chips.
What do the data show?
The use of Auto Sears has been attacked over the past decade, partly because they can be made cheap with 3D printers.
From 2012 to 2016, only 814 parts were taken to transform machine guns from the alcohol, tobacco, firearm and explosives. This swelled to 5 454 from 2017-2021.
In January, former President Joe Biden’s administration said 12 360 suspected machine gun conversion devices were restored in the United States and presented to ATF during approximately 34-month period ending in October 2024.
Five states, including Florida, Illinois, Texas, Montana and North Dakota, represent almost half of that amount.
What do states do?
Alabama is the latest country to ban Glock switches. A law signed this month by Republican governor Kay Ivy makes parts intended to turn pistols into machine guns, a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
The bilateral impetus to Alabama came after police said he believed that the conversion devices were used in fatal firing, including one in September, who killed four and wounded 17 people outside the Birmingham salon.
New Mexico Governor Michel Lujan Grisham signed a law in February, possessing a weapon transformation device punishable by up to three years in prison.
A similar legislation has adopted the New Jersey General Assembly last week and is now heading for the Senate. The bills are also hanging in other countries.
Virginia Glen Youngkin’s Republican Governor signed a law last year, making cars illegal. But last week, Youngkin vetoed a veto that would expand an existing ban on “triggering activators” to cover additional devices that increase the firing speed of semi -automatic weapons.
What do we want the advocates of weapons control?
Groups like EveryTown for weapons safety say that state laws provide sometimes an easier alternative to the federal prosecution to own Glock switches. But they want to go further.
Everytown for weapons safety supports the legislation in California, Maryland and New York, which would make illegal the sale of pistols that can be transformed into machine guns.
“This really puts the pressure where it belongs – on manufacturers who make money from weapons they know can easily be converted into machine guns,” said Nick Supina, Senior Vice President of Law and Everytown for weapons safety.
Several cities and states, including Baltimore, Chicago, Minnesota and New Jersey, have brought a lawsuit against Glok to make pistols that can be converted by other automatic weapons.
What do weapon rights groups say?
The National Righteous Association notes that US lawyers can now pursue people to abuse weapons, without the need for state laws.
The owners of America’s weapons, another weapons group, claim that people should be entitled to a machine gun ownership. State laws against conversation devices with machine guns are “duplicate” and “pure signaling of virtue,” said Aidan Johnston, director of federal issues for America’s weapons owners.
He said weapons converted to firing automatically may have practical applications such as eliminating large groups of wild pigs that destroy the Earth.
“Just because you put it on your firearm does not mean that you are a violent criminal or that you are definitely a dangerous person,” Johnston said.