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District Attorney Daniel Carr, Jefferson County Sheriff Mark Pettway and Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin are discussing legislation of a statewide ban on Glock switches Monday.After a violent year marked by multiple mass shootings in Alabama, Republican Gov. Kay Ivey and many lawmakers from both parties are backing a proposed ban on so-called Glock switches and other conversion devices that make semi-automatic weapons fire like machine guns.Watch the full news conference below.Communities across the country have seen deadly shootings carried out with the conversion devices, small pieces of metal or plastic, which can be purchased online or made with 3D printers. The devices convert semi-automatic weapons to fully automatic fire, capable of releasing multiple bullets with one squeeze of the trigger.Previous coverage: The impact of illegal Glock switchesAlabama Democrats have long supported banning the conversion devices, but their bills have failed to win final approval in a Republican-dominated Alabama Legislature historically reluctant to support gun restrictions.Glock switches in BirminghamThe conversion devices were used in the Five Points South mass shooting that killed four people. The rapid hard-to-control spray of bullets means more victims and more bystanders wounded or killed, police say.Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin called Glock switches “the number one public safety issue in our city and state.”Listen to Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin discusses reducing crime through reducing Glock switches below."These conversion devices harm and hurt people at the maximum level, and it ends up being a lot of innocent people," Woodfin said in a sit-down with �������� 13 Anchor Guy Rawlings. "Because you can't control the gun and it ends up spraying bullets in a few seconds. That's not meant for our domestic streets. I don't care what you say. I don't care what your party is. None of that makes any sense.""Therefore, we need a state law that bans them. What that does is empower local police, local sheriffs, local DA's state judges to have the flexibility to have the power to have the resources to go after the people that sell, manufacture and possess them."Since around November when he took the position, police have removed 3o to 40 Glock switches from the streets, according to Birmingham Interim Police Chief Michael Pickett.Birmingham Crime Commission reportA 66-page report from the Birmingham Crime Commission details the city's findings, including studies from other major cities that have reduced their violent crime and homicides.Some key categories mentioned were getting Glock switches off the streets and working on recruitment and retention with the police department. Watch the full news conference with Crime CommissionAlabama gun violenceAlabama has one of the highest rates of gun violence in the U.S. In 2022, there were 1,278 gun-related deaths in Alabama, which was the fourth-highest gun death rate in the country, ranking below Mississippi, Louisiana and New Mexico.“Americans who live in states with weak gun laws have repeatedly been harmed by the effect of Glock switches,�� said Olivia Li, Policy Counsel at Everytown for Gun Safety.Efforts to ban the devices have had mixed results.Mississippi and Maryland last year joined the states that have banned the devices. But in Pennsylvania, a bill to ban “multi-burst trigger activators�� failed by one vote last year in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives after every Republican and one Democrat voted “no.�� In any case, it faced stiff opposition in the GOP-controlled Senate in a state that has been historically protective of gun rights. In addition to Alabama, Utah, Colorado and Virginia are expected to see state bans proposed, according to Everytown.Some Democrats say state lawmakers must do more to stem gun violence. House Democrats have urged the state to bring back the requirement to get a permit to carry a concealed handgun. The state ended the requirement in 2023.Jefferson County Sheriff Mark Pettway said it is crucial that everyone helps law enforcement remove Glock switches on top of the laws going into place."Your information could prevent the next tragedy," Pettway said.