by Alex Lloyd Gross
It is against the law for a convicted felon to posses a gun. Any gun. That fact did not stop Russell Byron Norton, 32, from Bensalem from not only having guns, he had a lot of them. Ghost guns are sold as kits that people can put together to make a gun. They have no serial number and are difficult to trace. Norton built them, sold them and delivered them, court records showed..
In August of this year, he entered a guilty plea to 82 counts of corrupt organizations; prohibited possession of a firearm; altering or obliterating a mark of identification; possession of a firearm with an altered manufacturer number; firearm ownership – duty of other persons; and firearms not to be carried without a license. In a second case, he pleaded guilty to possession of contraband at the county jail and other drug-related crimes, officials said.
Officials said that this is the largest case of firearms sales and possession offenses than anyone else in recent Bucks County history. Court records show that these ere not just pistols. He built AR-15’s, and AK-47’s as well. He sold them to anyone. Even convicted felons.
At his home, detectives recovered 13 firearms, which included a ghost gun handgun, two AR-15 type ghost guns and other handguns, rifles and a shotgun and a large amount of ammunition. At his business, police located 18 firearms in various stages of manufacturing and one completed firearm, along with tools and items used to manufacture and build additional firearms. Pennsylvania law prohibited Norton from possessing firearms because of a previous conviction and because he had an active criminal warrant out of New Jersey.