In the last several years, a proliferation of tiny pieces of plastic and metal is fueling a spike in semi-automatic handguns converted to fully automatic fire.

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. Laws against machine guns date back to the bloody violence of Prohibition-era gangsters. 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.

The (ATF) reported a 570% increase in the number of conversion devices collected by police departments between 2017 and 2021, the most recent data available.

The devices that can convert legal semi-automatic weapons can be made on a 3D printer in about 35 minutes or ordered from overseas online for less than $30. They’re also quick to install.

“It takes two or three seconds to put in some of these devices into a firearm to make that firearm into a machine gun instantly,” Dettelbach said.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    0·
    8 months ago

    I’m pretty sure the massive amount of gun violence is what scares people, not terms that aren’t used by the military.

    In fact, from what I’ve seen, the people who really care about technical terms are the ones who want to find them to get around gun regulations or stop them from happening in the first place.

    I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told that there’s no such thing as an assault weapon when there was an assault weapon ban in law, meaning there clearly is whether or not some people don’t accept that as a technically valid term.

    • KuraiWolfGaming@pawb.social
      0·
      8 months ago

      The term “assault weapon” is being used by people who know nothing about firearms to refer to anything that isn’t an old bolt action these days.

      Its meaningless

        • DudeImMacGyver@sh.itjust.works
          0·
          8 months ago

          Still didn’t stop mass shootings or gun crime in general.

          I’m in favor of stuff like universal background checks and meaningful regulations, but vague definitions are problematic: Even when the “assault weapon” ban was in place, there was no shortage of functionally identical long guns available that were not classed as “assault weapons”.

          Much like with passing Internet laws written by ignorant people, gun laws written by ignorant people can result in laws that give people a false sense of safety and worse.

          We need to start electing people who are willing to admit they don’t know everything but are willing to learn before passing laws on any given subject, otherwise these problems aren’t going anywhere. Taking money out of politics it the other part of that, but both of these things are uphill battles.