Machine gun conversion devices recovered in 2023 by state

In 2023, 4,530 machine gun conversion devices were recovered at crime scenes by law enforcement and subsequently traced by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in the United States.

The ATF's data shows that more machine gun conversion devices were recovered in North Dakota than in any other state in 2023 — a striking outlier given the state’s size and past trace volumes. The reason for the spike is unclear, but it may be linked to recent changes the ATF made to better identify these devices in the trace process.