LIVE OAK, FL – Gregory Austin Eward, 25, of Live Oak, Florida, has pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy to possess and transfer unregistered firearm silencers. The case, cracked by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), reveals a sophisticated scheme to skirt federal law by selling the components of silencers online, disguised as innocuous parts.
Eward, along with his father and co-defendant Dustin Eward, ran Eward Research Inc., a shadowy operation that peddled the silencer components through their website, ewardresearch.com. Rather than directly offering “silencers” – a clear violation of federal regulations – the Ewards utilized coded language, advertising the parts as “toobz,” “end caps,” “spacers,” and “spools.” Payment was accepted in both cash and cryptocurrency, a tactic often employed to obscure financial trails.
Federal investigators discovered the scheme wasn’t about subtlety; the website prominently featured pictures of the parts, clearly identifiable as components for constructing illegal silencers. Dustin Eward attempted to mislead investigators in a 2018 interview, claiming they sold “solvent traps” – devices falsely marketed as cleaning tools rather than weapon attachments. This is a common tactic used by those trafficking illegal silencers to create a veneer of legality.
The jig was up when an undercover ATF agent, posing as a customer, purchased three silencers in January and February of 2022, paying with cryptocurrency. Surveillance footage captured Gregory Eward mailing one of the packages containing the illegal devices. Forensic analysis by an ATF firearms expert confirmed the components were, in fact, firearm silencers, requiring only a minimal amount of work – an estimated five to ten minutes of drilling – to become fully functional. Even more damning, the packages included 3D-printed tools specifically designed to aid in that final assembly.
The bust didn’t end with the silencers. At the time of Gregory Eward’s arrest on May 9, 2022, agents discovered a Glock-type handgun with no serial number and loaded with ammunition in the back seat of his car. The vehicle’s trunk contained three additional, equally untraceable rifle bump-stocks. Eward initially claimed his products were for storing items like fishing line, but later admitted they were similar to silencers and would function as such with a simple modification.
A subsequent search of the Ewards’ home on May 10, 2022, yielded further evidence. Gregory Austin Eward now faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Florida, is prosecuting the case, sending a clear message that the illegal manufacture and sale of firearm silencers will not be tolerated.
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