Newport man arrested on suspicion of illegally selling guns

Greg Risling

LOS ANGELES -- A 49-year-old Newport Beach man was arrested this week for

allegedly selling unregistered machine guns to an undercover federal

agent.

Authorities claim John Michael Swain violated federal laws regulating the

transfer of ownership of specially made machine guns. He faces a maximum

of 10 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000 if he is convicted.

Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have been

investigating Swain for the past month. Besides purchasing several

weapons from Swain at a gun show and at a secret meeting with undercover

agents, authorities found a stash of machine guns and silencers in his

apartment in the 800 block of Irvine Avenue.

“ATF has made great strides in decreasing the number of illegal firearms

being sold at gun shows,” said the agency’s Los Angeles Division director

Richard Curd. “This can only be achieved by the continuing cooperative

efforts among ATF, state, county and local law enforcement.”

The investigation began last month when undercover agents met with Swain

at the Great Western Gun Show in Pomona. The meeting led to the delivery

of six machine guns days after the initial conversation.

Swain was arrested Tuesday when he delivered 10 Sten machine guns and a

Browning automatic rifle to an ATF agent. The latter model has the

capability of shooting 500 rounds of ammunition per minute. The rifle was

originally designed before World War I.

In all, 25 machine guns along with kits for manufacturing the

semiautomatic weapons, were purchased or seized from Swain.

Authorities said Swain didn’t register any of his weapons, which is a

violation of the National Firearms Act. In order for a machine gun to be

sold, the weapon must be registered so the transfer of ownership is

legal.