The UCF Police Department arrested a student for modifying an AR-15 rifle by turning it into an automatic weapon and keeping it in his car parked on campus. Police said there was no expressed threat to students or the community.
An anonymous tip sent UCF detectives to 19-year-old Max Chamber’s vehicle. Detectives discovered an AR-15 rifle that had been modified internally to fire multiple rounds with a single trigger pull, turning it into a fully-automatic weapon.
His car also contained three additional pieces of hardware, called DIAS, that could modify rifles to fire faster.
UCF Police Chief Carl Metzger says there’s no indication Chambers intended to harm anyone. Instead, he was "gun enthusiast" curious about modifying the weapon.
“He modified it and he was into this because he could and he taught himself how,” said Metzger. “I think it was more of a curiosity and a novelty to him more than anything else.”
Chambers was arrested on two felony charges: one for having a firearm that mimics a fully-automatic weapon and another for the illegal hardware. Chief Metzger says he was a member of the ROTC.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement test fired the weapon and confirmed it fired 19 consecutive rounds with a single trigger pull.
State law allows the possession of legal firearms on campus that are secure and not readily available for use, but University policy prohibits possessing them on or near residence halls.
The student was confronted by UCF police last spring for possessing a part of a weapon at his on-campus-residence, which was not illegal but a violation of the school’s policy.
