David Robinson has been a firearms safety instructor for 24 years and is about as skilled at using a firearm as anyone within the Mobile County Sheriff’s Department.
On Wednesday, during a demonstration at the agency’s shooting range, he admittedly had trouble controlling the handgun he was using.
It wasn’t because of an immediate decline in skills. It was because that same gun – a compact 9mm pistol – was equipped with a switch that turned the semi-automatic device into a rapid-fire weapon.
“One pull of the trigger,” Robinson said. “And it’s impossible to maintain the stability of the weapon.”
The Sheriff’s Office, amid a statewide push for a new law banning trigger activators – commonly called Glock switches – hosted a media event Wednesday to illustrate the danger of altering a handgun into a weapon that has the capability to fire off 1,200 rounds per minute, or 20 rounds in a second.
“What we’re trying to do is show how lethal a switch can be in a handgun,” said Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch. “It fires off at a rate that … even for someone who shoots regularly, it’s impossible to control that gun.”
The demonstration in Mobile also comes 11 days after the deadly Sept. 21, mass shooting within the Five Points entertainment district in Birmingham. One of the gunmen was using a firearm with a Glock switch added to it, enabling it to be converted into an automatic weapon. Four people were killed and 17 others wounded in a shooting in which no arrests have been made, and which remains under investigation.
The shooting also captured the attention of the White House, which invited Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin to join President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to an Executive Order signing on Thursday that establishes a federal task force assigned to doing a deep dive analysis into machine gun conversion devices like Glock switches.
Their usage has soared in recent years. From 2017-2021, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives recovered 5,454 conversion devices. That represented a 570 percent increase over the previous five-year period.
Glock switches have been used in multiple shootings throughout Alabama, including in South Alabama. Among the most high-profile of those occurred on New Year’s Eve on Jan. 1, 2023, in downtown Mobile in which gunman Thomas Earl Thomas killed a man and injured nine others. The gun Thoms was using was equipped with a Glock switch into a crowd of revelers on Dauphin Street.
Thomas was sentenced last year to 10 years in federal prison. The possession of a trigger activator that can converted a handgun into a machine gun is prohibited under federal law.
State Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne, who attended the demonstration with Rep. Frances Holk-Jones, R-Foley, said that local law enforcement throughout Alabama needs help in getting the devices off the streets. He said he supports HB26, sponsored by Rep. Phillip Ensler, D-Montgomery, which would make possessing a trigger activator a Class C felony under Alabama state law – punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
“This is not us adding new restraints on firearms,” Simpson said. “There is a federal law that says you can’t have this. The problem we have is that the feds are not prosecuting it so now the states have to step in and cover this because of the safety of our communities. This would give state prosecutors the ability to step in and prosecute these cases where they haven’t been prosecuted federally.”
Simpson noted that law enforcement throughout Alabama – sheriffs, police chiefs, and district attorneys – support adding state penalties against anyone caught with a Glock switch.
In fact, law enforcement officials came to the State House last year to show support for a similar bill that passed out of the House by a 60-38 vote but died without a vote in the Alabama State Senate.
“You have mayors asking for this,” Simpson said. “Everyone sees the dangers this can present to a community.”
AL.com reached out senators after the Birmingham shooting, and a host of Republicans confirmed they would support HB26 if it was narrowly tailored to target Glock switches attached to handguns.
Some Republicans have said they do not support the bill, calling the shootings more of a “societal problem” and not because of any kind of gun.
Gun right groups have also called the proposal redundant, due to the existence of federal law. Republican U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville also said there was no reason for state legislation, adding that there were already federal laws on the books against Glock switches.
Alabama, if HB26 was adopted, would not be the only state with Republican leadership to vote in support of state penalties against Glock switches. Mississippi lawmakers did so earlier this year.
Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch at the county’s gun range on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, during a demonstration on how a Glock switch impacts a firearm.John Sharp
Burch said he would like to see lawmakers approve legislation soon. The state legislature does not return for its regular session until February 2025.
“If I catch you with one today, it might take three to four months before you’re indicted and ultimately get arrested,” he said. “If the state bill is passed, we can arrest on the scene.”
He added, “These things are dangerous. Usually the safest person … is the one getting shot at because it’s the bystanders who end up getting hit because you can’t control the gun.”