Feds Crack Down on ‘Texas Kill Switch’ Device

U.S. Attorneys for the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Texas announced a statewide initiative targeting illegal machinegun conversion devices, colloquially known as ‘switches.’

At simultaneous press conferences throughout the state, U.S. Attorneys Leigha Simonton, Alamdar Hamdani, Damien Diggs, and Jaime Esparza, joined by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, & Explosives Special Agents in Charge Jeffrey Boshek and Michael Weddel, lambasted switches, which transform commercially available firearms into fully automatic weapons capable of firing faster than military-grade M4s.

“We’re here to talk about a roughly one-inch piece of plastic. It looks innocuous enough, a little like a lego or a k’nex block. But this one-inch piece of plastic is killing people,” U.S. Attorney Leigha Simonton said at Monday’s press conference. “Machinegun conversion devices can turn Second Amendment-protected firearms into illegal weapons of war, and petty criminals into brutal killers. We cannot have our streets turned into war zones. We cannot – and we will not – allow switches to proliferate in north Texas.”

About an inch long, switches may be made of metal or plastic and can be printed on commercially available 3D printers. They generally slot into the butt of a gun and allow the shooter to fire “full auto,” unloading dozens of rounds with a single pull of the trigger. To date, switches have been used in numerous fatal shootings, including at least one juvenile mass shooting and multiple police killings.

Except in very limited circumstances, possession of a switch is illegal, as the National Firearms Act classifies the switch itself as a machinegun. Yet the number of switches recovered by law enforcement has risen dramatically in the past few years. Between 2017 and 2023, Texas-based ATF agents seized 991 switches; 490 of those, 50 percent, were seized just last year. They are often sold over social media, marketed to adults and juveniles alike.

As part of Operation Texas Kill Switch, U.S. Attorneys are partnering with Crime Stopper programs statewide to combat the proliferation of these illegal devices. From now until Aug. 31, local Crime Stopper programs will offer cash rewards for information leading to the apprehension or prosecution of those who possess switches or 3D printers being used to manufacture them. Tipsters must provide information to their local Crime Stoppers program, and anonymity is guaranteed by law. Information may also be submitted directly to ATF at www.atf.gov/contact/atf-tips.

U.S. Attorneys Simonton, Esparza, Diggs, and Hamdani also urged local law enforcement to partner with the feds on switch cases, which carry maximum sentences of up to 10 years in the federal system. They laid out their case in a joint op-ed published Monday in the Austin American Statesman, which you can read here. Watch clips from a machinegun conversion device shooting demonstration here and here.