A district judge sentenced a Marion man to more than eight years in federal prison after he admitted to trafficking firearms in southern Illinois.
Lonnie J. Petty, 20, pleaded guilty to one count of illegal possession of a machine gun and one count of illegal transfer of a machine gun.
Law enforcement recovered two privately made firearms or “ghost guns”, one firearm with an obliterated serial number, five additional firearms, three machine gun conversion devices or “switches,” multiple extended and drum magazines, and a large amount of ammunition.
According to court documents, Petty admitted to possessing a machine gun in Williamson County in June 2023. In addition, he transferred machine guns in Williamson and Franklin counties from September through November 2023.
Machine gun conversion devices include traditional “drop in auto sears,” which are designed for use on AR-type firearms, and more recently developed “switches,” which are designed for use on certain semiautomatic pistols.
MCDs are easily integrated with semiautomatic firearms to convert them to fire automatically illegally.
MCDs are defined as machine guns under the National Firearms Act, even when not installed.
