I-Team: Feds 'very concerned' about explosion of handgun switches made in North Texas

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - In the past six months, federal investigators said they have seen an explosion of handgun switches in North Texas.  

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, these illegal devices 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 Jeffrey Boshek, 
Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Explosives (ATF) Dallas Field Division. "That's how fast these switches are making these handguns. It's a real problem."

In May 2020, a traffic stop in Arlington led to one of the area's first cases in a recent string of busts for possession of an illegal switch.

Karo Khudanyan, 23, was pulled over for speeding when the odor of marijuana led the police officer to the discovery of five large bags of marijuana along with a small black box attached to a handgun in Khudanyan's vehicle, according to police records.

According to police body camera video obtained by the CBS 11 I-Team, at first officers on scene did not know what the device attached to the gun was. It was later determined to be a handgun switch. 

Khudanyan pleaded guilty in federal court to possession of an unregistered firearm and was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison.

There have been other cases.

In December, Ramon Navarro of Dallas was sentence to 10 years in prison for possession of an unregistered firearm after he tried selling three switches to an undercover ATF agent.

In March, Martin Avina, also of Dallas, was sentenced to four years in prison for selling illegal switches. According to court records, Avina and his co-conspirators sold 20 switches to an undercover agent. The men were advertising on Snapchat.

In recent months, local ATF agents have been confiscating switches nearly every week but recent busts revealed the problem may become harder to get a handle on. 

No longer are switches just being manufactured overseas and sold online.  Many are now being made locally by inexpensive 3D printers in less than 20 minutes. These locally made switches are being sold on social media apps, including Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram.

"This has been a big shift," Boshek said. "These things are coming from Dallas, Arlington, Fort Worth, all over here in North Texas."

In the four years Boshek has overseen the Dallas ATF Field Division, he said recent proliferation of switches in the Dallas/Fort Worth area is what has scared him the most.

"It is very concerning," he said.