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.

  • @Eezyville
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    83 months ago

    A knife battle sounds kinda better. I’ll have a greater chance to survive and some bad-ass scars.

    • Buelldozer
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      83 months ago

      The loser of a knife fight dies in the parking lot, the winner dies in the ambulance.

      • @[email protected]
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        3 months ago

        Buddy of mine (alright, coworker, but he was cool) decided to try and break up a bar fight one night, one of the guys ended up slicing his stomach right the fuck open. Like REALLY open. Was fucking wild, dude spent a long time in the hospital and never came back to work, but I did hear he was doing better so he at least did live.

        Still though, point is, knife attacks are a lot more brutal than those who advocate for knives think.

    • @[email protected]
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      -43 months ago

      Keep thinking that. Meanwhile most people here wouldn’t be able to fight off someone with a knife.

      It takes size and muscle, shooting the attacker takes a single trigger pull.

      You may not like to hear it, but guns aren’t going anywhere. Maybe if we stop making out gun owners to be some raging lunatics. Then they may be more likely to give them up.

      This is all pointless anyway.