Glock switch creator would ‘rather invent any other thing’ in wake of unintended consequences
The inventor intended to give military and police an advantage in counterterrorism, but didn’t foresee the internet, 3D printers and bad actors copying his design.
In 1987, a 22-year-old Venezuelan named Jorge Leon invented a small metal insert that could turn the Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol into a fully automatic machine gun with the flick of a switch.
Leon said he intended to give military and police units an advantage in counterterrorism, but he didn’t foresee the internet, 3D printers and bad actors copying his design and illicitly distributing the machinery around the world.
“I feel very bad,” said Leon. “I am sad about that. I would like to do something to fix the problem.”
In 1998, Leon patented the Fire Selector System for Glock (FSS-G), a machine gun conversion device now known globally as the "Glock switch."
He said patenting that invention was his greatest mistake.
“By just seeing the drawings, they can reverse the technology and make it. It’s part of the problem right now. I would rather to invent any other thing — something less complicated for the future,” said Leon.
Today, the sound of automatic fire has become alarmingly common in the Twin Cities with authorities attributing most of it to the proliferation of illegal switches.
According to the Minneapolis Police Department, while overall shootings have gone down over the last two years, automatic gunfire continues to increase.
BELOW: An extended interview with "Glock switch" inventor Jorge Leon.
In 2020, the city's ShotSpotter system detected 16 instances of automatic fire. In 2023, it picked up 257 — that’s roughly five automatic-gunfire reports per week.
Captain Matthew Steffens, who manages the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office's Major Crimes Division, showed us a Glock pistol with an illegal switch recently recovered by his investigators.
“We seized this from a juvenile suspect,” said Steffens. “The gun had been fired two days prior, in a shooting, where another juvenile was struck.”
The sheriff’s office said it recovers about two Glock switches every month. Minneapolis P.D. said it retrieves about one every week. They said the switches are sought after for bragging rights, as much as their chaotic fire power.
“With as long as we've now been talking about these, how is it so easy to go on the internet and find them for sale?” asked Steffens.
Marketing the Glock switch
In about 15 minutes, we were able to find illegal Glock switches marketed on Instagram, Facebook, X, TikTok and Pinterest.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) said most of these are machine milled or 3D printed overseas and imported discreetly. In one video on Facebook, a man shows off hundreds of Glock switches and then picks up a clear plastic bag from a toy kit with one of the switches inside.
Some switches are marketed as keychains or airsoft parts, while others make and sell them locally.
Benjamin Zwack was recently convicted for 3D printing Glock switches and selling them as a gun store employee in Savage.
Aaron Cato, another Twin Cities man, was indicted in 2022 after investigators said they intercepted a box from Taiwan marked "stainless steel thermos." Inside, were parts for 10 Glock switches. Investigators said Cato also admitted to 3D printing the devices.
But there's an even easier way to access a switch: Google it.
We searched for the phrase “Glock switch for sale” and instantly found scores of websites advertising the sale of these illegal devices.
You can order some with Apple Pay, others ask you to direct message them on the social media app Telegram.
We showed this to Will Panoke, the interim special agent in charge of the ATF’s St. Paul field division.
“It is shocking, but it's not a surprise,” said Panoke. “Even though they are being marketed as a keychain or something used in an erector set, it's illegal. To possess it, purchase it, manufacture it, it's illegal. There's just so many out there that it's really hard to get in front of.”
We asked Google why it allows these websites on search results in the U.S.
In an email, a Google spokesperson said the company tries to strike a balance between information quality and protection against harmful information. The company says it relies on courts to decide the legality of certain content.
"We are largely guided by local law when it comes to removing pages from our results, and hold ourselves to a high standard in complying with legal requirements," the spokesperson said.
This answer was not suitable for U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.
“I'm only laughing because they (Google) oppose every single thing we tried to do when it comes to regulating them,” said Klobuchar. “I think that time is ending.”
Klobuchar co-authored a bill last year that would require the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and Department of Treasury to work together to stop machine gun conversion device trafficking, and get legal authority to go after money from the sale of these devices. The bill has not made it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“This isn't about so many legal gun owners in Minnesota who have every right to have a gun. This is about someone violating the law, a criminal federal offense. Yet, it persists because it's available on the internet,” said Klobuchar.
Legality and lethality
Most Glock switches found by police and marketed online have the logo, “Glock, made in Austria” logo engraved on them.
This is a fabrication, according to Pete Vukovich, a special agent with the ATF.
He said Glock has never manufactured a removable auto sear for its pistols, although the company has produced the Glock 18 and 18C pistol models, which are intended for military and police and have a built-in auto fire selector.
And despite many people thinking all machine guns are illegal, they are not.
The National Firearms Act of 1934 imposed a $200 tax on the manufacturing or transfer of machine guns. Such guns also had to be registered with the Department of Treasury (today, registration is done with the ATF).
The Firearm Owners’ Protection Act of 1986 amended the NFA, barring civilian possession or transfer of machine guns made after that year.
Machine gun conversion devices (Glock switches), according to the ATF, are only legal for gun manufacturers with a Type 7 Federal Firearms License from the ATF.
The manufacturer also needs to provide a letter of intent to manufacture the devices solely for military and police.
Of special concern to law enforcement is the rate of fire that Glock switches allow. In their intended semi-automatic fire, Glock pistols can fire as fast as a user can repeatedly put the trigger. Vukovich fired five rounds in under two seconds.
With the switch attached, the pistol can reportedly fire 1,200 rounds in a minute, or 20 rounds in one second — a faster rate-of-fire than the U.S. military’s standard M4 carbine rifle.
“Most dangerous thing I've ever fired,” said Vukovich. “It fires so quickly I can't control it and react to it.”
Jorge Leon, the inventor of the switch, believes government crackdowns on these illegal switches are necessary. He also believes the long-term solution is for Glock to alter its pistol design so switches can't be used in future models.
“They can make a change, a quick change and they can start with a new generation of pistol that does not allow fully auto firing,” said Leon.
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