On September 11, 2024, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the seizure of over 350 website domains, alleging that they were being used to illegally import “Glock switches” and silencers into the U.S. from China.
Glock switches are cheap, third-party devices that convert semi-automatic Glock-style pistols into fully automatic machine guns that can fire up to 1,200 rounds per minute. Silencers muffle the sound of gunfire and make it difficult to determine where gunshots originate. Because of the danger they pose, machine guns and silencers — and the parts used to create them, such as Glock switches — are highly regulated, and their importation from certain countries, including China, is prohibited under the National Firearms Act.
The website seizure comes after the Department of Justice announced new initiatives to combat the spread of machine gun conversion devices (MCDs) like Glock switches, including the formation of a new committee to coordinate law enforcement investigations, share research and data, and allocate resources.
A tidal wave of illegal switches
Across the country, authorities have been raising the alarm about the proliferation of illegal MCDs, such as Glock switches. In 2023, Steven Dettelbach, the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), warned that MCDs were “flooding our communities.” The ATF also reported a 570-percent increase in MCD recoveries from 2017 to 2021, and 31,000 total MCD recoveries from 2019 to 2024. Glock switches in particular have been used in mass shootings in Dadeville, Alabama, and Sacramento, California, and to kill law enforcement officers in Houston and Memphis.
Although these devices are not made by handgun manufacturer Glock, they are so frequently used on Glock-style pistols that they are commonly known as “Glock switches” and are often sold with the Glock logo on them. The City of Chicago recently sued Glock, alleging that the company’s pistols are uniquely easy to convert into machine guns, unlike other handguns. The suit further alleges that Glock has known about this issue for decades and could take reasonable steps to fix the problem, but has chosen not to in order to maximize sales and profit.
To learn more about the dangers of Glock switches, click here.
uncovering a vast illegal network
According to an affidavit signed by a DHS special agent, law enforcement uncovered a network of websites selling switches, silencers, and other counterfeit goods infringing on Glock trademarks in August 2023.
The websites, many of which featured explicit advertisements for illegal firearm modifications, were allegedly used to traffic switches and silencers disguised under false product names. Federal agents made multiple purchases from the websites, and the switches and silencers arrived falsely labeled as keychains, necklaces, or toys to avoid detection by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. In one instance, undercover agents stated in an affidavit that they ordered items listed as “reflectors” that were, in fact, switches through AliExpress using Bitcoin.
In order to get their websites in front of potential customers, it appears that at least some of the sellers turned to online advertising. Since March, ads for at least seven of the seized websites were published through Google Ads. At least ten of the ads in that time frame explicitly mentioned guns, switches, or DIY silencer-building kits known as “solvent traps.”
Such ads appear to violate Google’s advertising policies, which prohibit ads for guns and gun parts. This discovery follows previous reporting by ProPublica that loopholes in those policies “allow the company to publicly claim it has a no-gun policy while facilitating the placement of — and earning money from — more than 100 million gun ads each year.”
Throughout the course of the investigation, agents learned from Glock’s attorneys that the company acquired control of over 300 of the website domains and now “maintain[s] ownership of these domain names in order to keep them inactive.” The attorneys consented to the seizure for the domains that Glock controls, and upon completion of forfeiture proceedings, all of the websites will be owned by the U.S. government. For the duration of the proceedings, visitors to the websites will now be directed to a landing page indicating that the domain has been seized:
