A Jackson man has been sentenced to 168 months (14 years) in federal prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm and engaging in business as a manufacturer of firearms.

According to court documents, Kent Edward Newhouse, 41, possessed firearms on or about July 13, 2022 and July 20, 2022, and engaged in the business of manufacturing firearms from April to July 2022.

In April 2022, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives discovered through a confidential informant that Newhouse was using 3D printers to manufacture auto-sears — firearm components designed to cause semi-automatic firearms to function as fully automatic machineguns. Under federal law, auto-sears are themselves machineguns.

On July 20, 2022, a search warrant was executed at Newhouse’s residence, where additional firearms and auto-sears were located. The government also obtained videos of Newhouse operating fully functional machineguns. Newhouse was previously convicted of felony sale of controlled substances in Madison County in 2009. He pleaded guilty Sept. 1, 2022, to two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of engaging in business as a manufacturer of firearms.

The ATF, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Jackson Police Department investigated the case. The case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make neighborhoods safer for everyone.