Clayton Hobby, 18, and his grandfather Kerry Schunk, 64, have been arrested at their Connecticut home for running a ghost gun operation where they would allegedly manufacture AR-15s in a makeshift shed out of their backyard.
Gatekeepers News reports that East Hampton Police arrested the teen and his grandfather after a neighbour reported the pair’s activity.
Local authorities found several ghost guns, including multiple AR-15s at ‘various stages of assembly’ and three polymer handguns, as well as 15 high capacity magazines, a bulletproof vest with local police badges on it, and approximately 1,000 rounds of ammunition.
According to a report, one of the larger AR-15 rifles was converted to shoot fully automatic, just like a machine gun.
Meanwhile, the duo were both charged in connection with the secret operation. Hobby, who was arrested on 23 counts of gun making and weapons possession, is currently being held on a $250,000 bond.
According to a statement disclosed by East Hampton Police, Schunk was handed 22 conspiracy counts for the illegal activity. The sexagenarian was also charged with interfering with an officer and was held on a $100,000 bond.
Ghost guns, popularly known as privately made firearms, or homemade firearms, are broken down into parts that usually come in a kit and need assembling.
In the US, they lack a commercially-applied serial number, which makes them untraceable. The guns found with the pair had fake serial numbers on them.
Overall, ghost guns are illegal in Connecticut, but those manufactured before 2019 were ruled as an exception and required a serial number.
