High-capacity machine guns converted from handguns fuel deadly violence in U.S. Chicago: NPR

A police officer stands guard at the scene of a mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, the United States, July 4, 2022. Six people were killed in the mass shooting at an Independence Day parade. (Photo by Vincent Johnson/Xinhua)

The number of auto sear-equipped handguns seized by Chicago police skyrocketed from zero in 2018 to 355 last year, which led federal authorities to declare that "Chicago has one of the worst switch problems in the country."

NEW YORK, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Despite a longstanding federal ban on auto sears, and a ban on extended magazines in Chicago and surrounding Cook County, the number of guns with the illegal attachments being seized by the city's police department has surged in the last several years, fueling more violence, reported the National Public Radio (NPR) on Friday.

The number of extended magazines -- those with more than 10 rounds -- recovered by Chicago police more than doubled from 2018 to last year, up from 459 to 924, records showed.

Chicago police have recovered extended magazines in at least 13 mass shootings since 2018. Eleven of the 13 were in the last two years, according to the report.

The number of auto sear-equipped handguns seized by Chicago police skyrocketed from zero in 2018 to 355 last year, which led federal authorities to declare that "Chicago has one of the worst switch problems in the country," it said.

The issue of guns and their accessories is being hotly debated by lawmakers across the country, and, similarly, the proliferation of switches has become a nationwide topic, it added.