3D printers used to make illegal handgun switches magnifies challenges for law enforcement
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Law enforcement's concerns over proliferation of illegal handgun switches in North Texas is being compounded by use of 3D printers to make them.
"This has been a big shift," said Jeffrey Boshek, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Explosives (ATF) Dallas Field Division.
No longer are switches just being manufactured overseas and sold online. Many are now being made by the hundreds locally by inexpensive 3D printers in just minutes. These locally made switches are being sold on social media apps, including Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram.
A recent federal undercover investigation in North Texas highlighted the ease to make these illegal devices and the challenges law enforcement faces in stopping it.
When placed on the back of a gun, these small, simple devices can change a handgun into a mini-machine gun. Instead of one bullet fired when the trigger is pulled, a handgun switch allow multiple rounds to be fired by holding down the trigger. As many as 30 rounds can be fired in two seconds.
"These things fire faster than what the military is carrying," said Boshek.
According to court records, last February a Fort Worth police officer reached out to the ATF after surge in gang shootings where officers found handgun switches on handguns.
The ATF then launched an undercover operation that led them from gang members in Fort Worth to a supplier of switches in Arlington. Ayoob Wali was arrested and pleaded guilty in November to federal charges of possessing and selling Glock switches.
Investigators, however, wanted to know not just who was selling these 3D printed devices but who was making them. That led them to Garland apartment complex.
According to court records, an undercover ATF agent purchased nearly three dozen handgun switches from Xavier Watson at his apartment.
Watson then allegedly showed the undercover agent the 3D printers he used to make them, telling the agent "between the two 3D printers, he could produce 400 machine gun conversions devices in a day."
He also told the undercover agent, according to court records, he had even sent some out in the mail concealing them inside a Mr. Potato Head toy. Watson also allegedly told the undercover agent about a new prototype flatback switch that would be even easier to conceal on a handgun.
Watson was arrested and faces federal charges for possession and transfer of machine guns. He entered a plea of not guilty. His attorney told the CBS 11 I-Team the process has just begun, and they were looking forward to a full and fair process.
The number of switches recovered nationwide by the ATF rose from less than 100 in 2017 to more than 1,500 last year.
Last year, the ATF Dallas Field Division seized more than 775 Glock switches.