CENTEREACH - More than 300 weapons, most of them unlocked and unsecured and some of them loaded, were seized from the home of an unlicensed gunsmith near Centereach High School.

Jay Steiner, 66, of 221 Tree Road, is free on $25,000 bail, charged with one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the first degree.
 
“Mr. Steiner had no license in Suffolk County - or elsewhere - to operate a gunsmith business, nor did he have a Suffolk County pistol permit or a federal firearms license,” Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said.  “Plain and simple: He should not have had these guns, and the manner in which he stored these weapons is shocking.”

Detectives assigned to the DA Gun Suppression Team executed a search warrant and recovered 85 illegally possessed handguns.  

“Five of the handguns were loaded and stored by the defendant in his unlocked bedroom dresser drawer, and there were another 5 unloaded handguns with ammo next to them,” Spota said.  “A loaded shotgun was also found hanging on the wall over the master bedroom closet, and a sixth loaded handgun, a Smith and Wesson .38 caliber revolver, was found by detectives hanging under Steiner’s hat near the kitchen pantry door.”

Seven more handguns were found in Steiner’s briefcase and another 67 handguns, found in two basement safes, were confiscated by Gun Team detectives.

“Most disturbingly,” Spota said, “in the basement we recovered two gun parts – they’re called  ‘drop in auto sears’  - a small piece of metal that, when installed onto an AR-15 rifle, converts the weapon into a machine gun.”