JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Glock switch turns a legal handgun into an illegal machine gun. The switches are showing up in cases in and around Jacksonville more frequently, forcing law enforcement to learn about them on the job.
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The switch looks like a small Lego piece and blends in with the gun making it hard for police to spot. While the switch is not made by Glock, many of them have the Glock symbol on them.
MACHINE GUN
According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), a traditional semiautomatic weapon shoots one round with one trigger pull, but with a flip of a switch, it can turn one trigger pull into a machine gun. That one pull of the trigger can empty an entire magazine in seconds – firing 33 rounds in one and a half seconds. That device is what police encountered while serving an arrest warrant in Houston, Texas. The shootout was captured on police body cam. One officer died in the altercation. It’s an illegal, aftermarket add-on and a federal crime. James Philips is an attorney and legal expert on firearms in Florida. He said the switch, “Changes the mechanism of firing, and is now, one pull of the trigger releasing multiple rounds, which is a machine gun.”
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Philips said the Glock switch is a specific modification to a gun, which makes it illegal under the Gun Control Act of 1968. “This Glock switch meets the definition of a part or kit that allows a firearm to become fully automatic,” said Phillips.
LOCAL CASES
Our Action News Jax investigation found multiple cases involving Glock switches in our area. The first one involved a man in Orange Park. ATF arrested Kristopher Justinboyer Ervin for allegedly selling keycards for customers to make their own switch. Ervin was caught in an undercover sting operation by ATF. According to court documents, Ervin used an Orange Park UPS store to make his transactions.
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The ATF shut down both of Ervin’s websites. He’s pled not guilty. The case is set for trial April 10, 2023. In a different case, Jacksonville Sheriff deputies arrested Chad Stuart Jaynes II. When the arresting officer was gathering evidence, he found a modified Glock 20. But he really didn’t know what the switch was. A K9 officer on site told him the adapter makes the handgun fully automatic.
And in a third case, ATF agents served a search warrant on Darnell Rice Jr. in Woodland Acres. Agents said Rice pointed a loaded pistol at their van. He was sentenced to five years in prison for selling a switch.
ATF
“I’ve been the victim of one of these going off at us,” said ATF Agent James Nash. “It’s very scary.” He said the age of these Glock switch users runs the full gamut. “We’re seeing individuals all the way from young teenagers all the way up to like middle aged individuals. And they’re using everything from the open market from illegal websites that are selling them or concealed websites or even the dark web.” The ATF is investigating every one of those areas, and now, they are looking into video game influence. “There’s too many kids that are dying on the streets right now,” said Agent Nash.
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The ATF is working to shut down web sites and social media accounts where Glock switches are sold, and they are working to stop the shipment of these devices. They say most are coming from China and Russia.