A man nicknamed “AK Guru” is accused of manufacturing and selling hundreds of machine guns

RALEIGH, North Carolina — A North Carolina man who goes by the alias “AK Guru” has been charged with manufacturing and selling hundreds of machine guns made from existing and deconstructed weapons, federal authorities said.

Earl Carter Jr., 72, is being held by federal authorities on charges of conspiracy to manufacture and sell firearms without a license, possession of an assault rifle and possession of a firearm by a felon, according to court documents.

Online court records do not indicate whether Carter has pleaded guilty to the charges. An attorney listed in court records did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment on the allegations.

An FBI statement, citing a confidential informant, said Carter, whose alias is “AK Guru,” makes machine guns “either by modifying legal firearms to make them machine guns or by assembling parts from deconstructed machine guns to create working machine guns. »

Carter also taught others how to make machine guns to sell, according to an affidavit filed Oct. 18. The informant told the FBI that Carter was bringing an “astronomical” number of machine guns through his workshop and that Carter had “connections around the world who could smuggle firearms from Europe into the United States,” the affidavit said.

“Carter sold more than 1,000 fully automatic AK-47s to various groups in the area, and that individuals in the ‘mountains’ purchased several fully automatic AK-47s from Carter per week,” the affidavit states.

The informant told the FBI that he saw Carter with machine guns in his workshop in the small town of Hamlet, about 80 miles (128 kilometers) east of Charlotte. The weapons, the informant said, included fully automatic AK-47 rifles, a .50 caliber Browning M2 machine gun, a PPS-43 submachine gun, a Lanchester submachine gun and others, the affidavit said. The informant said Carter asked him to make machine guns for Carter to sell.

Agents who searched Carter’s home, workshop and other buildings seized several AK-type pistols and other firearms with components believed to make the weapons capable of functioning as machine guns, the affidavit said.

Carter told agents he knew he was a felon and had no right to have a gun, the affidavit said. He was convicted of using a weapon on occupied property in February 1994.

A judge ordered that Carter be held in custody pending trial. No court date has been set.