A Corpus Christi man has been locked up for three years after admitting to his role in a scheme to traffic illegal machine gun conversion devices across state lines, a report from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of Texas stated. The man, 23-year-old Rene Saldana, pleaded guilty last September to the conspiracy, which involved so-called "Glock switches" – tiny devices turning legal handguns into mini machine guns, the feds said.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos handed down the 36-month sentence to Saldana, who will also face two years of supervised release after his prison term, the rapid surge in such devices has raised alarms with law enforcement agencies, seeing a 570% jump in seized MCDs from 2017 to 2021 – a statistic underscoring the growing threat these devices pose to public safety.
"MCDs present a unique and insidious threat to our communities – criminals can conceal something as small as a paperclip, install it in a legal gun, quickly converting the legal handgun into a machinegun, capable of firing hundreds of rounds of ammunition per minute," U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani outlined the danger in a statement obtained by the Justice Department. He highlighted the case involved an individual making MCDs in his home and then selling them to the highest bidder, without regard to where or how those MCDs would be used.
The investigation, led by the ATF, uncovered Saldana discussing sales of firearms and MCDs, agreeing to make and sell six MCDs for a total of $1000, testing the devices to ensure they worked properly to automatically fire a weapon, the illegal entrepreneur then planned for the devices to be trafficked out of state, banking on a larger sale in the future, according to the feds. At his arrest, authorities found a 3-D printer among thirteen more MCDs in various production stages that Saldana had intended to sell, "Holding illegal firearm possessors accountable through federal prosecution is one of our highest priorities and ATF will continue to pursue those who endanger the public with the illegal possession or use of conversion devices," Acting Special Agent in Charge Francisco Ortega of the ATF's Houston office told the Justice Department.
Saldana, allowed to remain on bond until sentencing, has now had his fate decided as part of an ongoing effort by prosecutors in the Southern District to clamp down on the trafficking of illegal firearms and their conversion devices, and the case against him was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ashley Martin and John Marck, the fallout of this case signaling a clear message to those thinking about dabbling in the trade of these lethal, illegal gun modifications.
