The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Large gun seizure in state leads to ‘show-and-tell
Two days after the arrest of a New Britain man led to the seizure of more than 100 firearms, Gov. Ned Lamont and his top cop Thursday put on a “show and tell.”
“Pictures do not do this seizure justice,” public safety Commissioner James Rovella said at a news conference Thursday, dozens of firearms laid out in front of him. “That’s why we’re doing the show and tell today.”
“It’s a conversation about gun runners,” Rovella said. “It’s a conversation about what we’re doing on our end of the spectrum to stop these things.”
The 10-month investigation that led to arrest of 39-year-old Steven GerentMastrianni on gun trafficking and other charges is ongoing, Rovella said so law enforcement officials are limited in what information they could release publicly.
“But what we can tell you today is that — hey listen, this guy was an entrepreneur. He had a cottage industry going,” Rovella said.
“He was able to acquire raw materials. He was able to acquire parts. He was able to assemble firearms, construct them, conduct his own testing, distribution and supply” he continued. “Pretty busy guy.”
The news conference at the Connecticut Forensic
Science Laboratory in Meriden was as much about highlighting a major law enforcement investigation involving multiple agencies as it was about showing off Lamont’s anti-crime and gun-safety proposals in an election year.
“Nobody is taking away anybody’s legal guns, but I’ve got to tell you this proliferation of illegal guns, this real proliferation of ghost guns, which are no serial number, made not to be traced…. is incredibly dangerous,” said Lamont.
Some of the seized firearms on display Thursday were so-called ghost guns,
weapons made from a variety of purchased parts that don’t have engraved registration numbers that provide a record of ownership. Lamont has proposed tighter restrictions on ghost guns and to revive a dormant gun-trafficking task force, which state lawmakers have agreed to fund.
Rovella said these weapons are increasingly turning up on the streets in some of the state’s biggest cities. In 2020, Hartford seized seven ghost guns compared to 29 in 2021 and 20 so far this year. In Waterbury, three ghost guns
were seized in 2020 compared to nine in 2021 and four so far this year. New Haven seized three ghost guns in 2020, 15 in 2021 and ten so far this year.
In 2019, Lamont signed a law banning ghost guns in Connecticut but acknowledged Thursday that his efforts to strengthen the law face an uphill battle in the General Assembly this year.
“To be blunt about it, I’ve still got some work to do with the legislature on that,” he said.