INDIANAPOLIS (WRTV) — Police on Wednesday said they are not seeing as many machine-gun conversion devices when they seize firearms.
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Officials with the Indiana Crime Guns Task Force said they seized 14 of the devices, popularly called Glock switches, in the first six months of this year. They said that’s fewer than they saw last year, though they could not immediately make those numbers available.
The devices allow someone to convert a semiautomatic gum, which fires one round each time you pull the trigger, to an automatic gun, which fires multiple rounds with a single trigger pull.
“That means there are less of them out on the streets of central Indiana, less of them in the hands of individuals who are committing violence on our citizens and more of them are being caught and put into custody than what they have out on the street,” IMPD Lt. Jered Hidelbaugh said.
Civilian machine-gun ownership, though technically legal, is highly restricted under Title II of the Gun Control Act of 1968. State lawmakers outlawed machine-gun conversion devices in 2023.
Hidelbaugh said the task force has seized a total of 143 firearms so far this year, most of them handguns. He said that number is typical. In addition, the task force seized nearly 140 pounds of drugs. That figure includes more than five pounds of fentanyl and more than 17 pounds of cocaine.
The task force consists of members of several law enforcement agencies in Marion, Boone, Hamilton, Hendricks, Lake, and Allen counties.
Fishers Police Chief Ed Gebhart said going after the conversion devices is important because they can do so much damage so quickly. He said he credits the task force’s work with the lower number officers are seeing on the street this year. Gebhart said people the task force arrests can face both state and federal charges.
“Whatever area of either state or federal that buys the most time is where we go,” he said. “We don’t want them coming back out and committing violent crimes in any city or state.”
Gebhart and Hidelbaugh said most of the guns the task force has seized were reported stolen from homes and cars. Firearm attorney and Second Amendment advocate Guy Relford told “News 8” more than half of all guns that are reported stolen are taken from people’s cars.
“With that many guns being stolen from vehicles, it’s inevitable, unfortunately, that they’re going to end up in crime scenes,” he said. “By definition, they’re in the hands of criminals because someone stole them. So, from that point forward, they are very likely to be traded or sold to and from people that are not legally able to possess firearms. So it’s a disaster all the way around.”
Relford said Indiana law shields lawful gun owners from liability if their gun is stolen and then used in a crime, but he said that does not absolve gun owners of the responsibility to secure their firearms. He said he recommends gun owners have a small locker installed in their car if they plan to keep a gun there.
Relford said lockers that use fingerprint ID or combination locks can be opened very quickly in a self-defense situation. He said guns should be locked up in your home as well.
“No one who is untrained and unauthorized to have access to your guns should have access to your guns, and that’s two elements, authorized and trained,” he said. “There are easy ways to balance accessibility and security.”
