'An arms race': Memphis officials want stricter sentencing for Glock switches

Weeks after a Memphis police officer was killed in a shootout with teens who officials confirm were using Glocks with automatic switches, Memphis officials want to increase prison time for people found to own them.

Memphis Mayor Paul Young, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy and interim Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn "C.J." Davis said Thursday morning they were asking the state to upgrade the felony classification for the statute that criminalizes Glock switch possession.

"We, essentially, have right now a proliferation of machine guns in Memphis and Shelby County, and it makes every police/citizen encounter even more fraught than it used to be," Mulroy said at the press conference announcing the request. "The dangerousness, and the body count, of crimes is even higher than it used to be and I think the law needs to change to reflect that."

Glock switches are accessories that turn a semi-automatic handgun into a fully automatic gun. They are currently illegal under Tennessee and federal law, but current state law only permits a one to two-year sentence for people convicted of having a switch since it is a Class E felony — the lowest category of felony.

Mulroy said the state should make the law a Class C felony, which could carry between six and 10 years for someone's first conviction, and higher if they have prior convictions.

Federal law allows sentencing of about 15 years for a conviction, but Mulroy said there is a limit to how many cases the U.S. Attorney's Office can take on.

Young said he had spoken with State Sen. Brent Taylor — a Republican representing Eads and parts of Shelby County — earlier Thursday about the request, saying that Taylor "didn't give his opinion in-depth, but he didn't sound like he was in opposition. But I'll let him speak for himself."

Taylor, in a phone interview with The Commercial Appeal, said he is "always happy to work with anyone to make life miserable for criminals," but said he needs to know how many gun switch cases are being prosecuted for the legislature's fiscal note.

The Shelby County DA's Office could not immediately share data about how many Glock switch cases had been prosecuted since Mulroy took office, or since his V11 program launched in January this year, due to the data not being on hand. Glock switch cases, or modified firearm cases, are part of the 11 offenses that are prioritized under this program.

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Mulroy, later in the press conference, added that he was hopeful that the change to the law could also touch on extended magazines, which he and Davis said are often found alongside guns with these switches. He did not, however, have specifics about what penalties could be enacted in that sector.

"I think that's part and parcel of what we're talking about with this arms race that needs to stop," Mulroy said.

Glock switches have created 'an arms race' between Memphis police and citizens

The influx of Glock switches, which Davis said Thursday can be found more regularly when Memphis police officers make arrests during routine traffic stops, has added anxiety to any police and citizen encounter, Davis said.

"When you think in terms of a simple, semi-automatic weapon being elevated to another level, it turns into a machine gun and the officer knows that he's outgunned immediately," Davis said. "It's a very dangerous and volatile situation for our officers. We're really trying to ensure that we train our officers in a way to address these kinds of situations so that they don't become victims. We have seen the devastation of these weapons."

In addition to that training, Davis said the Memphis Police Department is evaluating its equipment regularly, and "looking at increasing the caliber of types of weapons that our officers have access to." Mulroy called the situation a "race to the bottom."

"This just highlights just how out of whack our laws are, that we should be contemplating an arms race between law enforcement and citizens in some sort of race to the bottom," he said. "We've got to avoid that."

Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com, or (901)208-3922, and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter, @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Shelby County officials ask for stricter sentencing in Glock switch cases