According to a 2023 report by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, 5,454 guns with machine-gun conversion devices were taken into ATF custody at crime scenes between 2017 and 2021, a 570% increase in the five-year period. Between 2012 and 2016, the ATF seized 814 guns equipped with such devices, according to the report.The hitch, politically speaking, is that those devices ATF is seizing are not 'bump stocks,' and it's solely bump stocks that various Congressmen are at the moment focused on banning ever since the Supreme Court affirmed that they are currently legal since they do not modify a firearm's operation.
No, these are so-called 'Glock switches,' which are bits of plastic or metal that replace the slide cover plate on the back of a striker-fired pistol - not only Glocks, but "Glock" has become by now the generic name for any kind of pistol that might be featured in a rap video - and thereby override the sear and allow for continuous fire so long as there are rounds in the gun.
In other words, it does exactly what half of Congress and one third of the Supreme Court think that bump stocks do, but they don't.
Here's a typical news report on Glock switches.
If you are very, very, old, and oriented to crime and gun news, you might recall that in the 1970s there was a panic about cheap semi-auto pistols, often knockoffs of the MAC-10, that could be fired full-auto if the operator knew how to manipulate a button on the slide. They were generically known as "choppers" and were the weapon of choice for drug dealer shootouts in places like Miami, i.e., big MAC attacks.
The Glock switch has brought those days back. Just google the term and you'll see what I mean.
The path is open for some Congressional and Executive Branch action on machinegun conversions, or at least it could be, if only the politicians who are most engaged on this topic would drop their bump stock fixation.
No comments:
Post a Comment