A teenage boy is the first person in Birmingham to be arrested under Alabama’s new state ban on Glock switches.

The Birmingham Police Department’s Special Enforcement Team arrested a 15-year-old earlier this week, police announced Thursday.

The teen was in illegal possession of both a Glock handgun and a machine conversion device commonly known as a Glock switch, police said.

The arrest took place just before 4:30 p.m. in the 4700 block of Ninth Terran North while police were investigating a suspicious vehicle, said Officer Truman Fitzgerald.

BPD’s Felony Assault Unit detectives assisted in the investigation.

No additional details were released.

The teen is being held on a illegal possession of a Glock switch petition in the Jefferson County Youth Detention Center.

The new law just recently went into effect and makes possessing any part or combination of parts designed and intended to convert a pistol into a machine gun punishable by a term between 366 days and 10 years, according to state code.

Glock switches – also known as auto sears or a button or a giggle switch – can unleash 20 rounds per second or 1,200 rounds a minute.

Up until the new Alabama law, the federal government prosecuted all Glock switch cases.

Mayor Randall Woodfin has said a Crime Stoppers program would facilitate $1,000 rewards for the arrest of people caught in possession of gun conversion devices.

Woodfin encouraged calling Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777, and in a part of the message aimed at the general citizen, wrote in a social media post, “Help us get these switch boys off our streets.”