Evansville Man Charged After 3D Printing "Glock-Switches"

EVANSVILLE — A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Marquel Payne of Evansville with one count of possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and one count of possession of a machine gun.

According to a criminal complaint Evansville Police had received prior word that Payne was manufacturing machine gun parts with a 3D printer and began surveillance shortly after.

Investigators would obtain a search warrant for Payne’s residence and other locations he controlled. Searches revealed approximately 60 plastic machine gun conversion devices, a 9mm personally made handgun, an AR-15 rifle, a 3D printer, plastic printing filament, a 3D printed firearm silencer, and 9mm ammunition.

Source: USAO Southern District Indiana / USAO Southern District Indiana

Machinegun conversion devices are also referred to as “glock switches” and “auto-sears” and are meant to convert semi-automatic guns into fully automatic ones by allowing the gun to discharge multiple rounds with the single pull of a trigger. The press release notes that machinegun conversion devices themselves are considered machineguns under federal law even when not installed. On top of producing and selling these devices it is also illegal to possess.

Daryl McCormick, ATF Special Agent in Charge with the Columbus Field Division which also covers Southern Indiana spoke to the dangers that glock switches can present to a community. “Criminals using firearms equipped to be fully automatic is exponentially more dangerous.” said McCormick, “It’s dangerous for mainly two reasons. One, the intended victim is likely to be shot much more than just one time because of the rate of fire. Second of all, it’s hard to control when you shoot a pistol fully automatic. Which means it’s much more likely that innocent bystanders are going to be victims.”

Zachary Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana also spoke saying that while advancements in technology, like 3D printing, open the world up to a lot of good. They can also enable criminals. “As technology makes it easier to do good things, it also makes it easier to do bad things and unfortunately that’s one of the cases here. That’s why we have to focus so much on identifying and holding people accountable.” said Myers.

If convicted Payne faces up to 15 years in prison.