Houston Police Chief Troy Finner recalled his fear watching video of the encounter: the...
The Jan. 28 shootout — which left three officers wounded — was the latest in a rising number of shootings police say criminals are committing with so-called “Glock switches,” nickel-size devices that allow trigger pullers to essentially turn legal, semi-automatic handguns into machine guns.Federal authorities are seeing a dramatic rise in the use of glock switches or auto switches, which convert a semi-automatic firearm into a machine gun.
Special Agent James O’Flaherty, firearms instructor coordinator for ATF field agents, shows a 3D printed Glock switch Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022 in Houston.The shooting last month of the three police officers was the latest in Houston. Last year, a gunman shot and killed 54-year-old Officer William “Bill” Jeffrey with a similarly-modified weapon.
“If an individual can go to a gun store and buy a gun, they can own a machine gun,” said Ronnie Yeates, a Magnolia-based attorney who specializes in firearms laws. “But there are more hoops to jump through.”Houston’s rate of unsolved murders is soaring. Experts say the police department is to blame. But the proliferation in Glock switches now is due to a flood of the devices into the U.S. market from China, either smuggled into the country directly, or through Mexico, said Fred Milanowski, special agent-in-charge of the Houston Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Agents have also seen a rise in 3D-printed switches, but those tend to be less durable than those manufactured more traditionally.