28 weapons seized in ATF raid on Salisbury home

Court records show more than two dozen firearms were recovered during an ATF raid at the home of a Salisbury man who sold firearms to an undercover officer.

Special agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Baltimore Field Division and Maryland State Police troopers served a federal search warrant at Kenneth Perry's Salisbury home Thursday morning.

A spokesperson for the ATF Baltimore Field Division confirmed he has been charged with dealing firearms without a license, illegal possession of a machine gun and illegal possession of a National Firearms Act firearm.

An affidavit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland shows investigators first identified Perry as someone who had been manufacturing and selling firearms without a license in March and began setting up undercover purchases from him in April.

During the first buy, an undercover ATF task force officer bought a firearm, which did not have any markings, such as a make, model or serial number, from Perry for $750 according to documents.

BACKGROUND: ATF agents raid home of Salisbury man facing firearms charges

The officer wore a recording device during the interaction that captured Perry making several statements that were quoted in the affidavit, including, "You can get in more trouble for having this thing right here than you can for selling crack to six year olds ... It's full auto," and, "I need basically a week's notice ... Cuz I mean I've got a stash."

A firearms enforcement officer later examined and test fired the firearm, determining not only that it fit the definition of a machine gun, but also that it had been "designed" to be and "could be readily converted" into a fully automatic weapon.

Later that same month, the officer reached out to Perry again about purchasing another firearm and was told, according to documents, that he had a short-barreled rifle available.

The pair met in early May to complete the transaction during which documents show the undercover officer paid Perry $750 for two "AR style" firearm components.

Although Perry told the officer, "I can't sell this to you put together," the officer who examined them determined that on its own one of the components is considered a firearm and that possession of both "constitutes constructive possession" of a short-barreled rifle.

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On May 17, a little over a week after the sale, investigators executed federal search and seizure warrants both at Perry's Salisbury home and on his truck.

Documents state that they recovered 28 total firearms, including one that is believed to have been converted from a semi-automatic weapon to a fully automatic machine gun, as well as hundreds of rounds of ammunition and tools that could be used to make a semi-automatic firearm fully automatic.

None of the weapons recovered during the course of the investigation were registered to Perry in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, according to documents, and a search of the ATF Federal Licensing System showed he did not possess any kind of Federal Firearms License.