A Dakota County gun store employee has been charged with illegally possessing 3-D printed "switch" devices designed to convert firearms into machine guns.
According to federal charges unsealed this week, Benjamin Jehle Zwack sold an agent conversion devices — often called "switches" or "auto sears" — during normal business hours out of the Atomic Tactical, Inc., store at which he worked in Savage.
Atomic Tactical, Inc., is a federally licensed firearms business, but Zwack, of Burnsville, has a November 2022 felony drug conviction out of Dakota County that bars him from possessing firearms or ammunition.
An agent for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) learned in March that Zwack was selling 3D-printed auto sears via a tip from a confidential informant used by a drug task force in Dakota County, according to the complaint.
Zwack made his first federal court appearance on Thursday on charges of illegally possessing machinegun conversion devices and possessing firearms as a felon. A message was left for comment with the federal defender listed as representing Zwack. He was ordered to remain in custody pending further court proceedings.
According to charges, the undercover agent went to the store on March 7 and bought 11 3D-printed conversion devices from Zwack. The devices were designed to convert semiautomatic AR-type weapons to shoot automatically and were not serialized or registered.
During the purchase, the agent also saw a firearm in Zwack's waistband. Officers later recovered a Girsan-Regard 9mm semi-automatic pistol from the center console of Zwack's vehicle and a shotgun and ammunition from his home during searches on March 30. A search of Zwack's storage locker in Lake City, Minn., also turned up additional firearms, ammunition and items suspected to be homemade silencers and a destructive device.
