Feds Take Down ‘Significant’ Gun Trafficking Operation in Florida

We keep being told that gun control works. Of course, these are also the same people who claim all the gun control laws we currently have aren’t working and therefore we need more of them. No, it doesn’t make any sense to me, either, yet here we are.

Some claim that the reason they don’t work, though, is just because so many states don’t have the same laws, that we need more restrictions federally for it to do any good.

Yet a recent bust by the ATF and FBI kind of kills that argument entirely.

A significant gun trafficking operation spanning Central Florida has been dismantled, leading to the indictment of six individuals and the seizure of hundreds of firearms, machine guns, and conversion devices.

Acting United States Attorney Sara C. Sweeney announced the indictment, which alleges that Victor Manuel LaFontaine Ruiz, 31, of Poinciana, and Jose Emanuel Maldonado Rodriguez, 32, of Kissimmee, led the illegal operation.

According to court documents, the pair obtained firearm parts, including from a Chinese national, and used a “ghost gunner” machine and specialized drilling devices to assemble, manufacture, and modify semi-automatic and automatic firearms at a workspace on Maldonado’s property.

Lafontaine and Maldonado, with assistance from Freddie Geovani Cruz Batiz, 36, of Kissimmee, then allegedly sold these weapons, including fully automatic firearms and machine gun conversion devices, to illegal aliens and convicted felons.

…

On February 20, 2025, law enforcement executed search warrants at multiple locations connected to the conspiracy, recovering a vast array of firearms, machine gun conversion devices, manufacturing equipment, and drug paraphernalia. Notably, agents discovered five AR-style pistols with sequential serial numbers at Maldonado’s residence.

Some will hone in on the presence of a Ghost Gunner, though the way this is phrased makes me wonder if it’s actually a Ghost Gunner or just some other CNC milling machine that happened to be used to make firearms. Regardless of its presence, though, let’s note that this bunch allegedly turned these firearms into machine guns. 

That’s illegal on the federal level. It’s a law that’s mirrored in many state statutes, too, so that state law enforcement can prosecute people who do something like this.

These aren’t weapons people can just purchase lawfully over the counter and ship to other states. This was something very different. They even gained access to some of the parts from a Chinese national, which suggests they were parts they couldn’t get lawfully from a U.S. source.

In other words, all the claims about lax gun laws in some parts of the country being the reason gun control doesn’t work elsewhere are bogus. Where there’s a will, there’s a way, and when you tell people they can’t have certain things, they’ll find a way if they want them badly enough.

These arrests illustrate that quite well. Future arrests will as well, as have many in the past.

Gun control doesn’t work on the bad guys. It’s just something that makes it harder for people like you and me.

Criminals will never care about the law. That’s kind of a big part of their job description.