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By Alric Lindsay
Mitchell Chean Ebanks pleaded guilty today, October 4, 2024, to possession of a prohibited firearm contrary to section 15 of the 2008 Firearms Act. The weapon in question was described in the Grand Court before the Honourable Justice Richards as a “submachine gun,” namely a 9mm Glock “fitted with an automatic sear.”
According to smokinggun.org, “Auto sears are devices that convert semi-automatic firearms, which are designed to fire one shot per trigger pull, into fully automatic machine guns, allowing a shooter to continue firing as long as the trigger is depressed and the gun has ammunition.”
smokinggun.org added:
In other words, with an auto sear, someone can fire an entire magazine’s worth of ammunition in mere seconds.
Worse yet, auto sears are very easy to manufacture and can even be 3D printed, which is why these components — especially those designed by third parties for Glock pistols, known as “Glock switches” — are showing up at more and more crime scenes around the country.
An ATF agent fires a Glock with a switch and an extended magazine. (WCPO 9 News)
smokinggun.org continued:
Glock switches are auto sears designed for use on Glock pistols. They attach to the back of a Glock’s slide and interfere with the internal trigger mechanisms to allow for fully automatic firing.
It’s also important to note that these devices are not manufactured by Glock, even if they are branded or referred to as such.
smokinggun.org noted that some illegal imports of automatic sears to the United States originated from China, while others are made in the United States. Regardless of where they originated, if they become commonplace for use in crimes in the Cayman Islands, crime-fighting may become more challenging for law enforcement.
In the case of Ebanks, he now awaits his fate, having pleaded guilty to the possession of a Glock fitted with an automatic sear. He is scheduled to be sentenced in the Grand Court on October 25 at 2 pm.
