In a case that highlights the potential dangers of machine gun conversion devices like “Glock switches” being utilized by individuals with racist and extremist views, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg recently announced the indictment of a man for allegedly selling illegal firearms and modifications while serving a federal prison term. According to court documents, the alleged perpetrator used smuggled cell phones to access Telegram to sell firearms and “auto sears” — including those designed for Glock-style pistols, known as “Glock switches” — that convert semi-automatic firearms into fully automatic, and highly illegal, machine guns. The man was arrested on June 4, immediately after his release from a Louisiana federal prison where he had been serving a 33-month sentence for possession of illegal firearms and 3D-printed firearm parts and auto sears.
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The alleged perpetrator also operates a Telegram channel where he and other extremists share neo-Nazi, white supremacist, and anti-government propaganda and beliefs. The channel and chat’s content includes pro-Hitler imagery in the “fashwave” aesthetic;1Logan Macnair, “Understanding Fashwave: The Alt-Right’s Ever-Evolving Media Strategy,” Global Network on Extremism and Technology, June 18, 2023, https://gnet-research.org/2023/06/28/understanding-fashwave-the-alt-rights-ever-evolving-media-strategy/. support for the Ukrainian Azov Battalion, a unit the far right has celebrated for its members’ purported support for Nazism;2“The US lifts a ban on sending weapons to a controversial Ukrainian military unit,” Associated Press, June 11, 2024, https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-russia-war-us-weapons-azov-a3a555670bedeae2022900621d79aba7. and advertisements for high-capacity magazines, silencers, and “bulk deals” on auto sears for AR-style firearms and Glock switches, including 50 Glock switches for sale for $4,500.
illegal sales arm extremists
According to court documents, from August to November 2023, the individual charged allegedly sold a Glock switch, an AR-style auto sear, and silencers to undercover New York Police Department officers. He also allegedly attempted to sell a 9mm Glock 19 pistol through his Telegram channel to an undercover NYPD officer. Posts in the Telegram channel from other members indicate that he had successfully sold them firearms and accessories, and a pinned post from the alleged perpetrator reads, “If I owe you glock 19s please dm me.”
The court documents also allege that the mass shooter who carried out the May 2022 attack at the Tops Friendly Markets supermarket in Buffalo, New York, was a member of the same Telegram channel administered by the defendant — highlighting the danger that comes when extremists obtain firearms.
District Attorney Alvin Bragg called this particular Telegram channel “a hub of ethnically and racially motivated extremist ideology” and noted that the “combination of extremism and firearms is incredibly dangerous and threatens the safety of so many New Yorkers.”
This case highlights the unique danger posed by extremists using online spaces to gather, share propaganda, and illegally obtain firearms and devices that make their guns deadlier — with the goal of using those weapons to advance their hateful ideology. An individual looking to illegally convert their Glock into a fully automatic machine gun, for example, could find an extremist’s social media channel — like the defendant’s — and end up not only purchasing a Glock switch but also being radicalized into a violent ideology and using that Glock switch in a hate-motivated attack.