Border Officials Seized a Record Number of Illegal Machine Gun Kits in 2018

Federal officials policing American ports are recovering record numbers of illegal conversion kits that enable some semiautomatic handguns, including several popular models made by Glock, to shoot fully automatic.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection first encountered the devices in 2016. That year, agents seized 22 full-auto pistol conversion kits at all 328 American ports of entry, according to CBP data provided to The Trace. A year later, the number of recoveries dropped to seven. But in 2018, border agents seized 301 kits, a more than six-fold increase over 2016. The majority of the devices seized by the CBP have arrived in air parcels from Asia, according to a spokesperson.

“These products are heavily regulated, and there are serious consequences for not intercepting them,” said Jesus Sanchez, the CBP’s assistant port director at Los Angeles International Airport.

Efforts by law enforcement to track down conversion kits were first reported by reported by CNN in May.