By Dean Weingarten | Contributing writer
Editor’s Note: In the wake of last weekend’s fatal mass shooting at the Seattle Center in which one of the recovered guns was fitted with a full-auto conversion switch, TGM contributor Dean Weingarten was asked to take a look at the controversy. Here’s his perspective.
Glock switches are devices to convert ordinary Glock-type handguns from semi-automatic configuration to full-automatic configuration.
Much propaganda is being slung concerning Glock switches. As with most “information” from people who want to see the population disarmed, almost all the “information” is hampered by emotionally loaded assumptions instead of enlightening with facts and rational analysis.
John Lott and the Crime Prevention Research Center has recently analyzed numbers of people killed with Glock pistols configured to fully automatic with “Glock switches”. From 2021 through May of 2026, 43 people were found to have been killed with handguns configured with “Glock switches.” Forty-three people over five plus years is less than nine people per year.
For the years where the records have been released, 2021-2024, 29 murders were committed with Glock switches out of 80,657 murders reported. It is impossible to know if more or less would have happened if Glock switches did not exist. The odds are the numbers would be higher without Glock switches. Rapid fire does not translate into rapid hits on target. More misses are better in criminal hands than a lower rate of fire and more casualties.
In a far-away land, long ago, this correspondent gained a reputation as a shooter who could do some basic gun plumbing. I happened to know some people who were dissatisfied with the regime in control of their government.
One night, a friend of mine, an acquaintance, and a stranger showed up at my door. I did not invite the three men in, but took them to a separate room, not connected to the main residence, where I did reloading. It was private, and had no electronic connection. The stranger turned out to be a highly placed member of the local resistance, whose identity I later learned. The pitch was this: the group had smuggled in a number of Tec-9 semi-automatic pistols. They wanted me to convert the pistols to full automatic.
I explained these particular pistols had been reconfigured precisely to make such modification difficult. I explained the pistols were much more effective in semi-automatic mode. The conspirators said they did not want to hit anyone. They only wanted to make a lot of noise. I told them I could not help them.
Two or three days later, the highly placed member of the resistance was arrested. I was told he was undergoing torture. For a few days, the risk factor was high. The meeting had been after dark. There was no obvious address. I had not done anything illegal during the meeting. Shortly thereafter, by good fortune, we moved to a new location.
Untrained people are not effective with full auto pistols. Handling full auto pistols is a highly specialized skill. It takes knowledge, practice and technique. It takes significant expenditure of ammunition. It can be effective in the hands of highly trained operators. The numbers of such operators are, by the nature of things, limited. Very few will be found in gangs populated primarily with teenagers. It is may be better to be confronted by an opponent armed with a full auto handgun instead of a semi-auto, or worse, a shotgun or rifle. In the hands of untrained, emotional users, full auto pistols are mostly noise makers and wasters of ammunition.
Noise making is not always a waste of ammunition.
Full auto fire has significant psychological effects. It bolsters allies. It unsettles foes. For those purposes, it works. Much of warfare is psychological. In practical, criminal situations in the USA, gang warfare is low level warfare. The psychological effects can make sense to terrify and discourage opposition. A friend of this correspondent said, while acting as an official U.S. Army observer in the third world, a burst of full auto fire brought about immediate compliance.
They Don’t Make Sense
In terms of inflicting casualties, full auto pistols do not make sense. For the overall society in the USA, it is casualties which are the more important effect. We want to keep the number of innocents who are wounded or killed as low as possible within a constitutional republic.
General purpose machine guns such as the M60 operate best from bipods, or from tripod mounts, but can be fired effectively off-hand or while carried with a sling. An illegally-converted Glock semi-auto pistol is hardly in the same class as the M60, but by law, they are considered “machine guns.” Practice and technique are still important. Machine guns burn through enormous amounts of ammunition.
