VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A Virginia Beach man was sentenced to four years in prison on Monday for smuggling machine guns and firearms silencers into the U.S. which he sold on Facebook Marketplace.
A release from the Department of Justice states that 36-year-old John Patrick Gordon Dane of Virginia Beach ordered firearm parts from black market websites. The parts ordered included Glock switches, which are small devices that can be attached to handguns, converting semi-automatic pistols into machine pistols.
The part is classified as a machine gun under federal law because the switch allows a firearm to expel more than one projectile with a single pull of the trigger.
Dane also purchased firearm silencers from the black market. They were shipped to his home with manifests that disguised the contents.
On January 10 of last year, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives officers and Virginia Beach police executed a search warrant at Dane's home. During the search, investigators found Dane inside a shed on his property that he used to assemble and modify firearms.
Investigators seized 17 firearms including an AR-15 that had been converted to fire as a machine gun. Investigators also found a Glock firearm with a large capacity magazine and a switch making it fully automatic.
They also found "ghost guns" or firearms made without serial numbers.
Dane had a previously convicted felony offense in Virginia in 2012.
