On Thursday, March 27, 2025, Corey Wilson, age 20, faced conviction by Senior United States District Judge Barbara M. G. Lynn for possession of an unregistered machinegun, occurring on May 30, 2023, and June 6, 2023. This announcement was made by Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, Chad E. Meacham.
The trial revealed that Wilson had advertised machinegun conversion devices on Instagram. These devices, which can be installed in an AR-platform to transform the firearm into a fully automatic one, were sold for $150 each, despite being producible from inexpensive materials.
Undercover agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) coordinated a purchase from Wilson. The first transaction involved six devices. During the sale, Wilson demonstrated how the devices required "activation" and how to adjust them to enable full automatic firing. On May 30, 2023, he sold six devices, and on June 6, 2023, he sold twenty. Both transactions occurred in the Project Safe Neighborhood area of Northeast Dallas.
Wilson could face up to ten years in federal prison for each count.
The case was investigated by the Dallas Field Division of the ATF. Assistant United States Attorneys Robert Withers, Walt Junker, and Elise Aldendifer are handling the prosecution.
This prosecution is part of "Operation Texas Kill Switch," an initiative targeting machinegun conversion devices, also known as “switches.” These devices convert semi-automatic firearms into fully automatic weapons, exceeding the speed of military-grade machineguns.
Additionally, this case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN). This program involves collaboration among different law enforcement levels and the communities to reduce gun violence and violent crime.