Man in Rochester charged for possessing and selling a device that turns a gun into a machine gun

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A man in Rochester was charged Friday for selling a tiny device that turns semi-automatic guns into machine guns. This is a gun converter that News10NBC has been reporting on for almost a year.

They’re called auto sears or switches and they’re about the size of a die. Rochester police say a trio of gang members arrested last year — including the man accused of killing RPD Officer Tony Mazurkiewicz — had a gun with a switch.

News10NBC then did a story with the ATF that shows what the sears do.

ATF special agent Sean Martineck is an expert with a gun. He first shot a Glock, a semi-automatic hand gun. Then he fired another Glock fitted with an auto sear.

In that case, Martineck fired 28 rounds in a matter of seconds.

“As you can see from the demonstration, bullets are flying everywhere,” he said. “So now we’re putting the general population or public in harm’s way as well.”

In federal court Friday morning, a man named Andrew Hendrie was charged with possessing and selling an auto sear and a silencer. Under federal law, just possessing a sear is like possessing a machine gun.

The complaint says Hendrie met a man in a parking lot on Mt. Hope Avenue and sold him a sear and silencer. The complaint says the man who bought them was an informant for the ATF.

The complaint included a photo of the auto sear and silencer.

News10NBC’s Berkeley Brean spoke to Hendrie’s lawyer. He said the court didn’t enter a plea. There is a hearing in two weeks to see if Hendrie says locked up.

Another man charged with making sears out of plastic has been going on for more than two years. There’s a hearing in two weeks to see if there’s a plea deal.