American Fork man headed to prison for selling kits turning rifles into machine guns

American Fork man headed to prison for selling kits turning rifles into machine guns

(Weber County Jail)


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge handed an American Fork man a nearly three-year prison term Thursday for illegally making and selling more than 1,400 machine-gun converter devices for AR-15-style rifles.

Scott Ray Bishop told U.S. District Judge Dee Benson that he thought his product was the same as bump stocks or trigger assemblies that are sold legally.

"In my view, my kit was no different. In my view, my kit was as legal as they were. I was wrong obviously," he said.

A jury in January found Bishop guilty of unlawfully engaging in the business of manufacturing machine guns and illegal possession and transfer of machine guns. Benson sentenced Bishop to 33 months in prison followed by three years of probation.

Benson called the case "troubling." He said Bishop was seemingly unaware of how risky his endeavor was and that a lot of his clientele were people "we would not want converting anything into an automatic weapon."

"In the last several years, this country has seen an increase in the number of mass shootings," prosecutors wrote in court documents. "The risk that a (converted machine gun) will be used to harm others at a future date remains unabated. Defendant’s sentence should reflect this dreadful reality."

The conversion kit included a piece of metal that could be placed in the lower receiver of an AR-15 to allow the rifle to continually fire while the trigger is pressed down.

Spencer Rice, Bishop's lawyer, said the conversion device was a "flimsy, 5-cent piece of metal" that didn't really work all that well. Bishop, he said, was selling his knowledge and information about the kit but threw in the metal because customers wouldn't pay for just instructions.

Bishop, 48, believed he was operating in a gray area, somewhere between a legal bump stock — a device that modifies weapons to fire faster — and illegal machine guns.

Prosecutors argued that Bishop knew he was violating the law.

"He, for whatever reason, has a tendency to walk over the line," said assistant U.S. attorney Drew Yeates.

Related story:

Yeates asked the judge to impose a much stiffer sentence because the government believes Bishop was engaged in gun trafficking. At least four customers sent their guns to Bishop and he made them into automatic weapons before sending them back.

Bishop also bragged about how well his device worked, telling a customer in an email, "It runs like a top," about the modified gun, Yeates said.

Prosecutors argued in court papers that the modified guns are capable of endangering countless lives across the country. While Bishop does not have a criminal history, the nature and circumstances of the crime should weigh heavily in the length of the sentence, prosecutors said.

Bishop told the judge he didn't understand the seriousness of what he was doing until he went through the trial.

"I apologize to society for creating a product that can so easily be used to create a machine gun," he said.

"I can't change the past, l know that," Bishop said. "I wish I could. I would do the last five years of my life very differently."

Related stories

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

Utah
Dennis Romboy
Dennis Romboy is an editor and reporter for the Deseret News. He has covered a variety of beats over the years, including state and local government, social issues and courts. A Utah native, Romboy earned a degree in journalism from the University of Utah. He enjoys cycling, snowboarding and running.

STAY IN THE KNOW

Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

KSL Weather Forecast