ATF agents arrest Knoxville man who sold illegal Glock switches

Federal Court documents obtained by WVLT News have revealed that a Knoxville resident is facing charges for selling machine guns he claims to have purchased online from the Chinese black market.

The ATF’s definition for machine guns is “any part designed and intended solely and exclusively, or combination of parts designed and intended, for use in converting a weapon into a machine gun.”

The investigation into Derek Logan Blalock, 23 picked up steam on January 11^th, 2023.  On this date, a “confidential informant” reportedly allegedly did some undercover work and reached out to Blalock, who the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) believed was selling illegal glock switches.

This investigation has been focusing on machine gun conversion devices. These are also known as Glock switches or Glock auto sears, which can convert semi-automatic Glock pistols into fully automatic weapons, which gives them the classification of machine guns.

During the investigation the undercover reporter, who was working alongside the ATF, went undercover on January 11th to purchase a Glock from Blalock which had been converted into a machine gun, the documents confirmed.

The reporter allegedly went to Blalock’s house to purchase the device. While there, the documents stated Blalock also offered a homemade AR-type device, which can also be classified as a machine gun. During the sale, Blalock reportedly told the reporter that “[I need] to stop buying them in [my] name in case ATF ever came to question [me].” He also told the informant that he sells guns regularly, the documents also said.

The investigators went on to set up another sale 9 days later on January 20^th. This time, Blalock allegedly reportedly sold the reporter three converters and another man in the residence told the reporter he could sell him silencers as well. Blalock also gave the reporter 13 3D-printed converters during the sale because “they did not work as well.”

Blalock was taken into custody on February 4^th, but not in relation to weapon charges, he was driving a dodge charger that only had 3 wheels.

During his time in custody, Blalock reportedly made calls about a further shipment of converters.

Blalock continued to sell illegal guns when he was released from custody prompting the ATF to send in another informant.  Once the sale was made, the ATF raided Blalock’s property and found several weapons including 13 Glock converters, A pattern for an AR-style converter, an AR pistol and an assortment of drugs.