ATF now tracking machine gun conversion devices recovered at crime scenes
MINNEAPOLIS — There's a growing number of guns being converted into machine guns.
Here's why it matters: When someone opens fire with a machine gun, it has the ability to cause more damage, and impact more lives.
Now, the federal agency responsible for enforcing gun laws has started tracking numbers across the country.
In the most recent data available from 2023, the ATF traced 5,206 guns recovered from crime scenes in Minnesota. Eighty-eight of them were a machine gun or had been converted into one. That number may seem small, but it's having a big impact.
The sound of automatic gunfire is rapid. When on a pistol, it's courtesy of a switch, says ATF Special Agent in Charge in St. Paul, Travis Riddle.
"So whoever he or she may be trying to shoot, doesn't necessarily mean that that's who they're going to hit," Riddle said. "And biggest concern is just innocent victims that are living their day-to-day lives and they end being shot and not the intended target of the shooting."
WCCO took you inside the center in West Virginia where the ATF traces guns recovered during crimes. Contractors work to find out where the weapon came from. The information gathered also helps give a more clear picture of what's happening with firearms in the state.
A category that's getting more attention is guns that fire automatically. In 2022, agencies requested a trace on 26 machine guns. The number increased by four the following year. And the ATF added a new category in 2023, Machinegun Conversion Device, with 58 trace requests that year.
Previously, guns with auto sears would be classified as whatever type of gun it was, like a pistol or rifle.
"Why it important to capture data on machine gun conversion devices?" Mayerle asked.
"It's important to know, are we getting these machine gun conversion devices from overseas. Are these being manufactured or homegrown?" Riddle said. "But we also need to have an understanding of where these recoveries are taking place."
Last December, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued Glock, saying the well-known gun manufacturer designs weapons that can easily be converted into machine guns.
"Glock has known about this problem for decades and has done nothing," Ellison said. "Glock has turned a blind eye, and again and again, the death toll continues to rise."
Standing with Ellison at that press conference was parent Greg Johnson. A shooter armed with a converted Glock killed his son, Charlie Johnson, just hours before his college graduation, outside a Minneapolis nightclub in 2021.
"The world will never know what this bright young spirit could have accomplished," Greg Johnson said.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara highlighted how that kind of sustained, rapid gunfire has skyrocketed since it was first detected in the city five years ago.
"This is a problem for communities and it's especially a serious officer safety risk." O'Hara said in December.
O'Hara's department traces all guns used in crimes, like the one in Johnson's murder. That bolsters the ATF's effort to gather information to help police combat violent crime.
"Every bit of information that we can get in Minnesota on where our crime guns are being generated allows us to focus our efforts on where they need to be focused," Riddle said.
Riddle says the agency will have more perspective after it gets the data back from 2024.
WCCO reached out to Glock but did not receive a response.
