president Biden announces Glock switch recovered at scene of mass shooting in Birmingham during event to combat gun violence

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – The mass shooting in Birmingham at 5 Points South was the backdrop to a White House event Thursday focused on combating violent gun crime.

President Joe Biden announced that a conversion device, such as a Glock switch, was found at the scene of the crime in which 21 people were shot. Birmingham police believe a fully automatic weapon was used in the shooting. Conversion devices fit semi-automatic weapons and allow them to fire at machine gun speeds. Experts say they have less control over where bullets are fired.

“Machine gun conversion devices enable semi-automatic firearms, including easily concealable handguns, to match or exceed the rate of fire of many military machine guns with a single pull of the trigger – up to 20 rounds in one second,” Biden said.

Biden signed an executive order that creates a new task force to monitor emerging weapons threats, including conversion devices and 3D-printed weapons.

The Emerging Firearms Threats Task Force, made up of federal agency leaders, will assess the threat posed by Glock switches, or conversion devices that transform a semi-automatic handgun into a fully automatic weapon. Biden also directed the task force to evaluate how federal agents detect and seize the devices and how best to combat the problem. Conversion devices are illegal under federal law, but there is no state law regulating machine guns.

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin spoke at the event, calling on lawmakers to take action and help stop violence and bloodshed in places like Birmingham, Alabama. Drawing on his personal experience with the death of his own brother due to gun violence, Woodfin explained that he relived the moment over the weekend.

“I heard that cry again last Saturday when four other people were killed and 17 were shot in the terrible shooting in Birmingham,” Woodfin said. “Saving lives is not partisan…saving lives is the most American thing we can do together.”

Both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris supported restoring the assault weapons ban, which Woodfin previously said reduced violent crime in Birmingham while in effect.

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