Franklin man federally charged with manufacturing, selling ‘ghost guns,’ Glock switches

A Franklin man has been charged with manufacturing and selling 3D-printed “ghost guns” and firearm conversion pieces, the Indiana Southern District U.S. Attorney’s Office announced this week.

Alexander Clark, 26, was federally charged by criminal complaint with dealing firearms without a license, possession and/or transfer of machine guns and manufacturing machine guns after law enforcement seized 30 firearms from his home — many of which were 3D-printed guns.

U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Myers and Daryl S. McCormick, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Columbus Field Division, made the announcement Tuesday.

Beginning in May, ATF agents conducted a covert investigation and purchased several 3D-printed, Glock-style firearms from Clark. Law enforcement also recovered from Clark’s home several “Glock switches,” which are used to convert firearms into machine guns, a suspected fully automatic AR-15 rifle, 3D printing filament, a laptop with a Glock frame on screen connected to a 3D printer, and a silencer.

Ghost guns like those allegedly seized from Clark are unserialized, privately made firearms that are increasingly being recovered by law enforcement at crime scenes across the country. Without a serial number, ghost guns are impossible for law enforcement to trace through the ATF’s National Tracing Center.

Clark does not have a federal license authorizing him to sell firearms, and none of the weapons were registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.

Clark appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Tim A. Baker of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana on Tuesday and was ordered detained pending a hearing. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison.

The ATF is investigating the case in collaboration with the Columbus Police Department as part of the Department of Justice’s National Ghost Gun Initiative.

Although reported just months prior as a relatively uncommon issue encountered by Hoosier law enforcement, the number of ghost gun and Glock switch seizures appears to be increasing in some parts of Indiana.

In May, an Evansville man was sentenced to 6½ years in federal prison on multiple charges, including illegal possession of four unregistered, 3D printed smooth-bore pistols.

Similarly, a machine gun adjudication against an Indianapolis teenager was affirmed last month by the Court of Appeals of Indiana after the teen was arrested for possession of a modified pistol. The teen had a firearm that had been converted from a semi-automatic weapon to an automatic weapon through the addition of a Glock switch.