A man dubbed ‘AK Guru’ has been charged with making and selling hundreds of machine guns

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina man whose alias is "AK Guru" has been charged with making and selling hundreds of machine guns built 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 deal in firearms without a license, possession of a machine gun and possession of a firearm by a felon, according to court documents.

Online court records do not show if Carter has entered a plea on the charges. A lawyer listed in court records did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment about the charges.

An FBI affidavit that cited a confidential informant said Carter, whose alias is "AK Guru," makes machine guns "by either modifying legal firearms to make them into a machine gun or by piecing together parts from deconstructed machine guns to construct functioning machine guns."

Carter has also taught others how to make machine guns for him to sell, according to the affidavit filed Oct. 18. The informant told the FBI that Carter brings an "astronomical" number of machine guns through his workshop and that Carter has "connections around the world who are able to smuggle firearms from Europe into the United States," the affidavit said.

"Carter has sold over 1,000 fully automatic AK-47s to different groups in the area and that individuals from the 'mountains' have purchased multiple fully automatic AK47s a week from Carter," the affidavit said.

The informant told the FBI that he saw Carter possessing machine guns in his workshop in the small town of Hamlet, about 80 miles (128 kilometers) east of Charlotte. According to the informant, those guns included fully automatic AK-47 style rifles, a Browning M2 .50 caliber belt-fed 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 multiple AK-style guns and other firearms with components appearing to make the weapons capable of functioning as a machine gun, the affidavit said.

Carter told agents that he knew that he was a felon and was not allowed to have guns, the affidavit said. He has a felony conviction for discharging a weapon into occupied property in February 1994.

Carter will be held in federal custody pending trial, a judge ordered. A trial date has not been set.