Key Points
But federal investigators believe the 22 shots could be fired off with lightning speed because the weapon had been illegally converted to fire like a machine gun.. Communities around the U.S. have seen shootings carried out with weapons converted to fully automatic in recent years, fueled by a staggering increase in small pieces of metal or plastic made with a 3D printer or ordered online..
But the proliferation of devices known by nicknames such as Glock switches, auto sears and chips has allowed people to transform legal semi-automatic weapons into even more dangerous guns, helping fuel gun violence, police and federal authorities said.. "Police officers are facing down fully automatic weapon fire in amounts that haven't existed in this country since the days of Al Capone in the Tommy gun," said Steve Dettelbach, director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF..
Guns with conversion devices have been used in several mass shootings, including one that left four dead at a Sweet Sixteen party in Alabama last year and another that left six people dead at a bar district in Sacramento, California, in 2022..
While the devices are considered illegal machine guns under federal law, many states don't have their own specific laws against them..
"We have to update the laws regarding machine guns to deal with the problems of today," Indianapolis police Chief Chris Bailey said...
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