Overview

• An enhanced two-month sweep by the ATF’s Crime Gun Intelligence Center and Chicago Police Department led to 41 arrests and the recovery of 171 firearms and 64 machine-gun conversion devices.
• Prosecutors filed 18 federal counts, mainly for machine-gun possession and felon-in-possession charges, alongside 23 state cases including armed violence and gunrunning.
• NIBIN data shows many of the seized weapons are linked to homicides and aggravated assaults in the Chicago area and nationwide from 2017 through 2025.
• ATF Special Agent Christopher Amon and officials warn that small, 3D-printed 'switches' can enable handguns to fire fully automatic bursts at rates exceeding 30 rounds in two seconds.
• Federal, state and local partners, including U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros and Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke, said they will use harsher penalties and continued multiagency operations to disrupt the illicit supply chain.