Alabama state Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, has prefiled a series of bills aimed at increasing penalties for firearm related offenses and banning Glock switches in response to the Sept. 21 mass shooting at Hush Lounge.

The shooting, which occurred in Birmingham’s Five Points South entertainment district, killed four and left 17 injured.

Smitherman said this tragedy motivated him to draft the new legislation.

“They used a gun that was modified with a Glock switch to make it a machine gun, and all those people were shot and killed and injured,” he said.

“That’s in the middle of my district. Not only just because of my district, but it’s been happening in other parts of the state as well.”

“We’ve got to take an aggressive approach to remove those people and those instruments from our streets, so they’ll be safe. That’s the motivation.”

Devices that turn a handgun into a machine gun are considered illegal, but local prosecutors say it is difficult to use a federal law to crack down on violent shootings, as AL.com previously reported.

Currently, there is no state law that makes Glock switches illegal, although they are illegal federally.

Smitherman’s SB31 would make it a Class C felony to “knowingly possess a machine gun, including the frame or receiver of any such weapon, any part intended to convert a firearm into a machine gun [like a Glock switch], and parts from which a machine gun may be assembled.”

Exceptions are provided for state or local law enforcement officers while acting in an official capacity and any machine gun lawfully owned or possessed under federal law.

Smitherman said it is especially important to focus on tools that convert firearms, like Glock switches, because they can be even more dangerous.

“You take a single shot, what might be called a bolt action gun, that force from shooting is measured and you know, you can have full control of it. But when you put these switches on, now, these guns weren’t built for that.”

“And they shouldn’t be out there shooting it like that anyway. So, you know, you can’t aim it properly. You’re just out there shooting, spreading bullets very recklessly on innocent people.”

Another bill from the senator, SB32, would “require any person who causes the death of another person using a (machine gun) under certain circumstances to be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole” if the defendant was 18 years of age or older at the time of the offense.

If the defendant was below the age of 18 at the time of the offense, they could also be sentenced to life imprisonment with a possibility of parole, per the bill’s text.

“We’ve got to be aggressive,” Smitherman said.

“If that’s necessary, we’ve got to do that. People who are caught carrying those guns, we’ve got to be aggressive in getting them and those guns off the streets.”

The bill would also create a standardized definition of machine gun, to mean “any firearm that shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, more than one shot automatically without manual reloading and by a single function of the trigger. b. Any part or combination of parts intended solely for use in converting a firearm into a machinegun. or c. Any combination of parts from which a machinegun can be assembled if the parts are in the possession or control of a person.”

And Smitherman’s SB30 would make the failure of an individual to “at all times secure a firearm in his or her possession, control, care, or custody in a manner and location where the individual knows, or reasonably should know, that an unauthorized person is not likely to gain access to the firearm” a Class C felony (sentence between 366 days and 10 years).

The bill defines an unauthorized person as anyone who does not have permission from the owner to possess the firearm or anyone who cannot possess a gun under state or federal law.

All three bills are currently pending action in the Senate Committee on Judiciary.

Several other Alabama lawmakers have prefiled similarly aimed legislation, and Birmingham’s City Council and Mayor Randall Woodfin recently called on legislators to ban Glock switches after the city’s deadliest year ever.