MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy announced Thursday he, alongside Interim Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis and Memphis Mayor Paul Young, will work with state legislators to increase jail time for those caught using Glock switches.
The announcement comes nearly two weeks after a mass shooting that killed two people and injured seven others in Orange Mound and more than three weeks after a Glock switch was used in a shooting that killed Memphis Police Officer Joseph McKinney and injured two other officers.
“It’s a very stark reminder, it’s very powerful, just how dangerous and uncontrollable these Glock switches can be and how they raise the threat level,” said District Attorney Mulroy.
Use of a Glock switch, or a device which converts a semi-automatic handgun into a fully automatic sub-machine gun, is currently a Class E felony in Tennessee, punishable by one to two years in jail on the first arrest.
Mulroy wants use or ownership of the device to be re-classified into a Class C felony, which carries a three-to-six-year sentence and 6-10 years on a third felony arrest and the potential for an even longer sentence, depending on criminal history.
Interim Police Chief C.J. Davis said it is becoming routine for officers to find suspects carrying Glock switches during arrests. It’s why she said MPD is looking to upgrade their own weaponry to contend with these illegal machine guns and avoid being outgunned.
The latest numbers from Memphis Police shows officers recover about three of these weapons per week.
“We are looking at increasing the caliber of the types of weapons our officers have access to," Interim Chief Davis said. "It’s unfortunate that we have to do that,”
Orange Mound resident Keith Leachman agreed that Tennessee needs stricter gun laws.
“Waking up in the middle of the night to gunshots,” Leachman said. “[I] wake up hearing gunshots when I get up in the morning.”
The Stop the Killing Cut the Beef Community Development founder said the violence has to stop. He said he was even concerned attending a funeral for one of the victims in the mass shooting at Orange Mound Park.
“Because it may be a high risk going to a funeral,” he said. “I just tried to give [the family] comfort. Let them know all will be well.”
Mayor Paul Young said he knows Memphians are upset and said has already talked briefly with State Senator Brent Taylor on the subject.
“[Memphians are] depending on us to find ways to get individuals who are terrorizing our communities off the streets,” the mayor said.
Leachman hopes change can come before the violence escalates.
“A gun battle with the MPD and the community,” he said. “That is a no-win situation.”
Joseph McKinney, 26, who had been a Memphis police officer for three years, was shot and killed in a shootout with two teenagers on April 12, 2024. One of the suspects who shot at the officers, Jaylen Lobley, was using Glock switch.
Lobley was previously arrested in March 2024 for possessing such a switch while stealing a car, and he was released on his own recognizance for these crimes. He later died in the shootout.
Mulroy said the device was also used in April's mass shooting at an Orange Mound block party that left two people dead and seven others injured.
Memphis Police dispatch told ABC24 the shooting happened Saturday, April 20, on the corner of Carnes Avenue and Grand Street, near Orange Mound Park shortly after 7 p.m.
Interim Chief Davis spoke to the media shortly after 10 p.m., saying MPD found five shooting victims at the scene. Two were pronounced dead on the scene, while three others were rushed to the hospital in critical condition, according to MPD.
Memphis Police said the shooting happened at a block party held without a permit at Orange Mound Park, and as many as 300 people were in attendance.
On May 1, Memphis Police also confirmed they have 18 persons of interest, though no one has been arrested.
District Attorney Mulroy said that since Glock switches are also illegal under federal law, they try to refer those cases over to the federal system as much as possible.
Possessing one of these is guns is also one of the charges part of his office’s Fast Track Violent Crime Initiative.