Glock switch website bust: Feds seize 350+ sites selling gun switches, silencers
(Photo: DOJ)
BOSTON (FOX 2) - Federal authorities recently took over more than 350 websites that they say were being used to import illegal Glock switches and silencers into the United States.
Switches are devices attached to a semi-automatic handgun to make it automatic. They are illegal.
An investigation into websites selling these devices began in August 2023. According to the Department of Justice, federal authorities began targeting multiple websites, businesses, and individuals selling, offering for sale, importing, and exporting conversion devices.
Glock switches turn handguns into machine guns and are on the rise in Michigan, ATF says
Glock switches are illegal in the U.S. but federal authorities say they've seen a 600% increase in the number of conversion devices flooding into the country.
During this investigation, undercover authorities purchased the items and confirmed that switches and weapon silencers were being shipped to the U.S. from China. According to authorities, the items had false descriptions of what they were to conceal them. For instance, some were labeled as necklaces and toys.
Michael J. Krol, the special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England said the "websites represent a large-scale, organized effort to import illegal switches and silencers that turn ordinary firearms into deadly automatic weapons."
The seized websites are now redirected to a web page explaining that the site was violating the National Firearms Act (NFA).
"The results of this investigation have, to date, resulted in the seizure of over 700 devices which would covert a firearm into a machine gun, 87 illegal suppressors, 59 handguns, 36 long guns, as well as the seizure of 355 websites which were used to facilitate the trafficking of these items," said said Ketty Larco-Ward, Inspector in Charge, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Boston Division. "The proliferation of readily available devices which allow the illegal manufacturing of machine guns is a plague on our communities."
Glock doesn't actually make the switches, but the ones being sold have the name on them. Feds say this means many of the websites were selling counterfeit goods.
(Photo: DOJ)
What is a Glock switch?
A Glock switch is a small device that snaps onto the back of the gun and switches it from semi-automatic to fully automatic.
Glock handguns aren't meant to fire at such a high rate of speed. It's built with a standard backplate and a sear inside the gun.
The sear stops the gun from firing more than one round at a time.
By putting the little device on top of the gun and opening the mechanism up, it turns the weapon into a machine gun.
The carnage that can be created is quick and devastating.
Earlier this summer, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms said it has seen a 600% increase in conversion devices – most of which come from Russia or China.