article

A 39-year-old man suspected of amassing an arsenal of firearms, including untraceable “ghost guns,” has been arrested by authorities in St. Mary’s County after a week-long search.

Deputies from the Sheriff’s Office in St. Mary’s County arrested Jerod Adam Taylor at his residence Tuesday around 7 p.m. on outstanding warrants related to an investigation that began Nov. 7 when deputies initially responded to a domestic assault call in Lexington Park.

During that investigation, authorities discovered an extensive cache of weapons, including 80 firearms, several 3D-printed phantom weapons, and an array of equipment used to manufacture firearms.

In addition to the ghost guns, detectives seized a wide array of weapons from Taylor’s home, including an AK-47, a fully automatic rifle, a short-barreled shotgun, high-capacity magazines, suppressors, automatic fires, more than 1,300 cartridges. ammunition, armor and various weapons crafting tools.

Philip Bangle, senior litigation counsel at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, emphasized the scope of the discovery. “

He shouldn’t have had one gun and he has 80!” Bangle said, pointing to the dangers posed by the proliferation of phantom guns, which lack serial numbers and are difficult for law enforcement to track.

The suspect, 39-year-old Jerod Taylor, left the home before deputies arrived.

Detectives believe Taylor was collecting firearms for trafficking purposes.

“It’s clearly a factory for firearms trafficking. There’s no other explanation for it,” Bangle noted.

Bangle explained that the only difference between a traditional Glock and a ghost gun is the absence of a serial number, which makes ghost guns nearly impossible to track once they enter the black market.

“Buyers are usually criminals, minors and prohibited persons,” he added.

Since around 2017, phantom guns have appeared more frequently at crime scenes.

The trend has accelerated in recent years, Bangle noted, pointing to incidents like the 2022 shooting at Magruder High School in Maryland, where a student allegedly used a phantom gun to injure another student.

Maryland took legislative action in the spring of 2022, passing a bipartisan bill banning phantom guns. However, Bangle argues that more needs to be done to reduce their availability.

“There’s nothing to stop a person from buying 80 to 100 to 500 phantom gun kits and setting up shop in their garage or basement,” he said.

Taylor, who has previous convictions and a warrant for theft, is prohibited from possessing firearms.

He now faces multiple charges, including illegal possession of firearms and second-degree assault.