Police across Pennsylvania are issuing a warning on Wednesday on an attachment for guns that can convert an ordinary weapon into a semi-automatic pistol.
The tiny and inexpensive “switch” lets criminals create machine guns, increasing danger on the streets and to law enforcement.
Action News spoke with Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele, who described so-called gun “switches” as simple but lethal.
“They are too easy to get. We need this banned and we need it soon,” he says.
Montgomery County Detective Eric Nelson, a firearms and ballistics expert, showed Action News what a switch is and how they are used.
“We are seeing it in all different types of guns. Rifles, pistols, and various calibers. So pretty much any gun,” Nelson explained.
The rapidly increasing popularity of switches is not confined to the suburbs, experts say.
Captain James Kearney, the commanding officer of the Philadelphia Police Gun Investigation Group, says just one recent example involved the shooting near a