New State Glock Switches Ban Will Lead to More Arrests: Alabama Police Officials

Local law enforcement and prosecutors say Alabama’s new state ban on Glock switches will result in more arrests and convictions and less violence in communities that have experienced deadly mass shootings.

After a tragic year marked by the deaths of 152 Birmingham residents and a devastating mass shooting at a local nightclub in Five Points South, which involved the use of a Glock switch, local officials say the state ban on machine gun conversion devices is a step toward making the Magic City safer.

As of March 19, 2025, possession of a Glock switch could now result in a prison sentence of up to 10 years.

“State law gives a local tool to our Birmingham police that, when they capture someone in possession of a Glock switch, they don’t necessarily have to go to the federal government,” Mayor Randall Woodfin said. “They can literally go to their local DA to expedite and keep this process going. This on top of those federal resources allows for state resources to engage at the exact same time…This was needed, this was important.”

Local and federal officials say they hope the new legislation will result in a more efficient apprehension of people in possession of Glock switches. But advocates say it will take more than a state ban, policing and prosecution to solve Alabama’s homicide problem.

What are Glock switches

Glock switches are an inch-long device that fit onto the back of a Glock and override the trigger mechanism to make the pistol function as a machine gun.

While Glock switches have become the more popular modification, the law bans all devices that turn a pistol into a machine gun.

Interim Birmingham Police Chief Michael Pickett said the department started seeing Glock switches on the streets in 2021 with the devices becoming more popular in 2023. He said their popularity has only risen since then.

Glock switches have become a popular accessory among young men and have been used in multiple Alabama mass shootings including one in Dadeville that left 4 people dead and 32 injured and one in Birmingham that left another 4 people dead and 17 injured.

How enforcement and prosecution works

Prior to this new state ban, the federal government prosecuted all cases involving Glock switches, a process that can be selective.

United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama Prim Escalona has been prosecuting Glock switch cases since 2021. Her office has taken on more than 60 Glock switch cases.

“It’s really been the role of our office to try to come in and assist where they weren’t able, at the state level and the local level, to charge those crimes…We work really closely with our state and local counterparts on those kinds of charges,” Escalona said.

Initiatives like Operation Flip the Switch brought public awareness to the proliferation of these devices in an effort to increase reports, law enforcement training and prosecutions at the federal level.

Many of the cases her office takes on originate at the state level – but federal agents typically wait for a local partner to notify them when a potential gun charge might accompany a state-level issue, such as a drug or assault arrest.

Federal law enforcement partners investigate the case and assistant United States attorneys prepare the case, which then is presented to a grand jury for indictment.

For some cases, the federal government utilized sting operations to catch and arrest people in possession of the devices. These tactics can be dangerous and use a lot of time and resources.

“If [local law enforcement] don’t have the ability to arrest on the Glock switch charge at the state level, then that means that we have to come in, find that individual, try to get a warrant, arrest, find, hold,” Escalona said. “So it is helpful to us when there are similar state charges or a reason that the state can arrest, because those are the officers that are coming in contact with them most of the time.”

Escalona said there are many reasons people choose to own and use the device besides its firepower, including the fact that the devices are largely seen as a “status symbol” that provide “street credibility.”

She said some Glock switch convictions are for simple possession and could result in a maximum 10-year prison sentence. Other cases have involved Glock switches in furtherance of illegal drug trade, which could result in a minimum 30-year mandatory prison sentence.

Some Glock switch cases will still be prosecuted at the federal level even with the state ban. Escalona said there could be benefits to federal prosecution including speedy trials, protecting victim and witnesses’ needs and out-of-state imprisonment for those who are convicted.

Adding a state ban

The state ban on Glock switches came as a result of legislators on both sides of the aisle coming together to advocate for stricter legislation.

“With this law, we overcame resistance to gun safety legislation and passed a state law prohibiting one of the most dangerous gun accessories that exist,” Rep. Phillip Ensler, D- Montgomery, who has advocated for the state ban since 2023, said.

Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr said the wording of the state ban on Glock switches has “more teeth” than the federal law because penalties can be enforced even if it cannot be proven that someone was “knowingly” in possession of the device.

“I think it’s huge,” Carr said. “It shows that there was a coordinated effort across the aisle by the legislature and that they recognized this issue that was deeply embedded in Birmingham with the use of Glock switches.”

Carr, who grew up in Ensley, a Birmingham neighborhood that has seen devastating amounts of gun violence, said he believes community members will appreciate the new law.

“We’ve seen the type of carnage that it leaves behind…I just don’t understand why a person would need that in a civilized society,” Carr said.

“I think this is a matter of public safety. I think people who are not in the business of committing criminal acts in our community, violent acts, will appreciate the fact that there’s something on the books that will hold people accountable for committing such heinous crimes in our community.”

What’s next? Advocates and local officials weigh in

During a community meeting aimed at getting public input from residents about community safety, Woodfin announced that the city is working with Crime Stoppers to reward tipsters $1,000 after the arrest of anyone caught in possession of Glock switches .

“It’s a game changer,” Woodfin told AL.com. “I would say, for Birmingham, the most heinous crimes people committed have been with the use of Glock switches. What makes this bill so strong and so important is simple possession…Because what’s your intent? There’s no other intent to have this but to spray a lot of bullets that cause mass casualty."

Pickett said the new law will lead to more arrests by local police departments and more cases will be prosecuted now that local courts can take them on.

On the other hand, Birmingham-based criminal defense attorney Leroy Maxwell Jr., said the new law may do more harm than good.

Maxwell has taken on multiple federal Glock switch cases, mostly involving young, Black men.

“Most of these Glock switch cases are not coming along with cases where there was actual violence, where someone was shot or an attempted murder, or something along those lines,” Maxwell Jr. said.

“The cases I’ve worked on, that have been Glock switch related, none of them, absolutely zero of them, were associated with any violence whatsoever. They were typically associated with Facebook posts, where you may see a young man with a gun with a switch on it, or filming a rap video, or with friends doing things that young folks do.”

He said that he more commonly sees violent cases involving AR15s and bump stocks, devices that convert rifles into machine guns, which have no state ban in Alabama.

Of the 50 cases Maxwell has taken on in the last five months involving guns, which include robbery, attempted murder, murder and capital murder, he said none of them involved the use of a Glock switch.

“I think that’s where a lot of us defense attorneys take issue with that. Are we really trying to address a real systemic issue that’s occurring, or is this something surface level that actually has no effect on gun violence or curbing gun violence, and it actually targets and hurts a certain community,” Maxwell said.

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