(PatriotPostNews.com) — The Lonestar State has rolled out a new program designed to stop the illegal conversion of ordinary firearms into something closer to machine-guns.
So-called “switches”, very small devices that are usually about an inch in size, can be placed on ordinary guns to turn them into fully automatic firearms. During several press conferences held at the same time in multiple Texas locations, various law-enforcement agencies warned about their dangers. According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) and according to U.S. Attorneys, these “switches” can let a gunman fire an ordinary gun faster than M4 machine guns used by the military.
Jaime Esparza, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, said police and federal law enforcement have been “investigating and prosecuting” these “switches” for years, but it’s not enough. That’s why they’re introducing Operation Kill Switch. Esparza said the effort wants to convince the public to report people using the switches, and it also wants local police to keep a sharper eye out for such illegally converted guns.
“Switches” might be made of plastic or metal. They’re inserted into a gun’s butt to allow fully automatic firing, just like a machine gun. This increases their lethality significantly, and police worry that not only do they make mass-fatality shootings easier, but they also endanger the lives of officers responding to shootings.
For example, a birthday party in Alabama in 2023 ended with four dead men when teens used a total of seven handguns to blast away at partygoers. Two of those guns had been fitted with automating switches.
Operation Kill Switch has its work cut out for it, as these devices are incredibly simple to make with a home 3D printer, and they’re easy to hide, too. As they can be made of plastic, they won’t trip metal detectors.
They are illegal, too, under federal law, which classifies them as machine guns. In Texas alone, from 2017 through 2023, ATF agents seized 991 of them. Texas Crimestoppers is even offering cash to anyone with legitimate information about someone who possesses switches or who is cranking them out on a 3-D printer. The cash awards are available until the end of August.
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