Over the past decade, Massachusetts streets have been marked by a rapid surge in homemade weapons with massive firepower.
With the rise of illegal devices that can turn semiautomatic pistols into fully automatic guns, rapid and often inaccurate gunfire has torn through neighborhoods and businesses.
Law enforcement experts say this is a worrying and dangerous trend across the state, and nationwide.
Some of these devices, known as machine conversion devices (MCDs), have been used in public shootouts in recent years that have led to innocent bystanders getting shot at.
It happened in Springfield two weeks ago, when the window was blown out of a Belmont Avenue apartment as residents settled in for bed on Jan. 25.
More evidence of the terror was left behind outside in the form of 20 shell casings, scattered across the tree-lined neighborhood block.
But the problem of these MCDs — which turn any pistol into a fully automatic machine gun — has taken a recent turn for the worse.
“The availability of these devices has skyrocketed over the past decade, and that’s what’s really driving the crisis we’re seeing on our streets,” said James Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) Boston Field Division.
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With the rise of illegal devices that can turn semiautomatic pistols into fully automatic guns, rapid and often inaccurate gunfire has torn through neighborhoods and businesses.
Law enforcement experts say this is a worrying and dangerous trend across the state, and nationwide.
Some of these devices, known as machine conversion devices (MCDs), have been used in public shootouts in recent years that have led to innocent bystanders getting shot at.
It happened in Springfield two weeks ago, when the window was blown out of a Belmont Avenue apartment as residents settled in for bed on Jan. 25.
More evidence of the terror was left behind outside in the form of 20 shell casings, scattered across the tree-lined neighborhood block.
But the problem of these MCDs — which turn any pistol into a fully automatic machine gun — has taken a recent turn for the worse.
“The availability of these devices has skyrocketed over the past decade, and that’s what’s really driving the crisis we’re seeing on our streets,” said James Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) Boston Field Division.
Continues...
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