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Cook County prosecutors to seek prison sentences in all cases involving machine guns or switches

Cook County cracks down on switches, other illegal gun modifications
Cook County cracks down on switches, other illegal gun modifications 00:55

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Citing a surge in the number of firearms being illegally converted into machine guns, Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke has ordered prosecutors to seek a prison sentence in all felony cases involving machine gun-type weapons.

The policy change would mean that prosecutors could not agree to plea deals that do not include a prison sentence in any felony case involving the use of a machine gun or machine gun-style firearm without the approval of a supervisor.

The shift will apply to any case in which a defendant "was in possession of or used a machine-gun, machine-gun conversion device (MCD), extended magazine, drum magazine, automatic switch, privately made firearm, ghost gun, or defaced firearm while committing any felony offense, regardless of the class of the felony."

"Anyone who has seen one of these modified guns in action – which enable a shooter to unload a 30-round drum magazine in less than two seconds – understands that these are weapons of war that have no place in our communities," O'Neill Burke said in a statement. "With this policy shift, we are providing certainty and consistency for prosecutors and police so they can do their work with confidence to get these incredibly dangerous weapons and the people who use them off the street." 

O'Neill Burke's office said data from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives shows recoveries of machine-gun conversion devices, also known as switches, have increased fifteenfold since 2019.

Her office's crackdown on machine gun cases comes on the heels of an announcement by U.S. Customs and Border Protection that its officers in Chicago seized more than 1,500 switch devices – which convert semiautomatic weapons into fully automatic firearms – from various shipments last year.

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