Only a few years ago it was uncommon for police to find automatic weapons in use on the streets of Chicago.
Now, the sounds of rapid-fire rounds are regularly heard citywide and police stats show gunshot victims turning up with more wounds than ever before-because crime guns car fire more quickly.
“You can shoot 30 rounds from the magazine in less than two seconds,” said Jon Maniff, assistant special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms field office in Chicago. “That’s become a big issue just in general with law enforcement, especially machine guns that are used in mass shootings, they’ve been used in robberies,” Maniff told NBC-Chicago.
Now, a joint investigation by ATF and Chicago police has resulted in an arsenal of lethal firepower taken off the streets.
Photos obtained by NBC5 Investigates reveal a stunning array of long guns and handguns-some converted to fire as fully automatic machine pistols.
At least 171 firearms were taken off the streets in what local and federal authorities call a “two-month enhanced enforcement initiative.”
Federal officials describe a newfangled law enforcement effort to deal with an escalating automatic weapons problem in Chicago. They imported a small workforce from other offices to make street buys in Chicago and the suburbs.
“These were ATF agents across the country who have experience in these types of with investigations. We brought in undercover agents that have traveled the country-working proactive investigations just like this but we also heavily relied on our partnership with the Chicago police department,” ASAC Maniff said.
The 171 guns, 64 machinegun conversion kits and 41 accused offenders are now off the streets.
One gun was seized from a suspect’s bedroom-and found resting on his bed.
A 20-year-old arrested can be seen posing on social media with a gun and he even used the word “switch” in his web handle. A switch is that illegal device that converts handguns to full auto.
For decades machine guns were confined to use on world battlefields, from world wars one and two, through Vietnam and into the Gulf Wars, they were combat weapons.
And then the introduction of the small switch turned a simple-and legal-pistol into a fully automatic, and illegal, miniature machine gun.
When the so-called “Glock switch” became available on the internet-or even easily made on home 3D printers the past few years-rapid fire pistols suddenly turned city streets into combat zones.
“The guns purchased in this operation came back to other shootings in the city,” said ATF ASAC Jon Maniff. The guns they took off the streets had been used in violent crimes including “shootings, mass shootings, homicides, aggravated batteries against law enforcement,” and other life-threatening conduct he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
