Jacksonville FL – Judge Marcia Morales Howard has sentenced Matthew Hoover of CRS Firearms and Kristopher Justin Ervin, the defendants in the AutoKey Card case. Ervin and Hoover were convicted in a Florida Federal Court in April 2023 for transferring machinegun conversion devices, known as Autokey Cards.
The AutoKey Card is a slim metal card that has etched markings that resemble a lightning link. A lightning link allows users to modify certain AR-15-style rifles and convert them into machine guns. As per the National Firearms Act of 1936 (NFA), any device that can change a gun into a machine gun is regulated as a machine gun itself.
Ervin considered the card as a conversation starter. He intended it to spark a discussion about gun rights and the foolishness of gun laws. During the trial, it was disclosed that Ervin did not want a deep etching on the card, in order to prevent buyers from cutting out the lightning link. It was also revealed that the lightning link etching was not the correct size to function as a lightning link, even if someone could cut it out from the card.
According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), it didn’t matter that no one was able to get the devices to work.
Even the ATF itself couldn’t get the lightning link to function by cutting out an AutoKey Card along the lines. The only way the ATF could get a firearm equipped with a lightning link made from the AutoKey Card to fire automatically was by jamming the fire control group and causing hammer follow. The ATF lawyers argued that the men believed the device would work, so it didn’t matter that the AutoKey Card wasn’t functional.
Hoover was convicted of conspiracy. However, he neither sold the card nor owned any part of the company. His role was advertising the item on his popular YouTube channel, CRS Firearms. According to the government, the majority of the company’s sales were directly attributed to its advertisement campaign.
The court recommended a sentence of 22 to 34 months in prison or supervised release for Hoover based on the pre-sentencing report (PSR). Meanwhile, the PSR suggested time served and a three-year probation for Ervin, who has been in jail for nearly three years. Our reporter and Richard Hughes from the YouTube channel FlyingRich were given access to the PSR, which prompted the government to attempt and fail to obtain gag orders against our reporting.
The Department of Justice disagreed with the pre-sentencing report (PSR) and urged the judge to impose a harsher sentence on two men. The Assistant US Attorney (AUSA) leading the case, Laura Cofer Taylor, requested the judge to punish the defendants severely.
The DOJ recommended a sentence of 19 1/2 to 24 1/2 years in federal prison despite the fact that the men had no prior felony convictions.
During the trial, the judge acknowledged that the Pre-Sentence Report (PSR) failed to consider that the ATF considers the AutoKey Card to be machine guns. However, the judge also stated that she would never sentence the accused men to the minimum punishment that the government wanted. Furthermore, the judge questioned why the ATF is not proactively recovering the AutoKey Cards from people’s houses if they pose such a great danger.
The judge handed down the sentences on the second day of the sentencing hearing. Kristopher Justin Ervin and Matthew Hoover were both sentenced to five years in prison. Although the sentence is not what the government had hoped for, it still seems excessively harsh for a crime with no victims.
Both men are expected to appeal the verdict.
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
The wheels of justice turn very slow and sometimes backwards.
This sentence shocks any normal person’s conscience.
This should win on appeal, I feel, but the problem is, these guys have to rot in prison while that happens… Its wrong. Our Government is inextricably broken and corrupt.
“ When I Was A Kid, This Was A Free Country.”
G. Gordon Liddy
Yet another federal level miscarriage of justice.
Deliberate and intentional.
Corrupt jury and court when individuals are convicted for selling a product that the government claims makes an AR-15 into a machine gun, but the government could not get it to make an AR platform rifle into a fully automatic weapon.
John: Thanks for your usual excellent work in bird-dogging the abuses of the ATF. Minor point: Wasn’t the NFA passed in 1934 rather than 1936?
Paul V.
It’s hard to even imagine that a drawing on a piece of metal which can not even become functional by design, can be used to further a tyrannical government to further their Communist and political ambitions. If they retain power, you can bet they will be after YOU next. We were warned.
This is the government our Founders warned about…and, for which they penned the Second Amendment.
HEY CRUMPY YOU JUST REPEATED THE SAME LIE SPREAD BY THE KBG AND COMMUNIST MEDIA “The AutoKey Card is a slim metal card that has etched markings that resemble a lightning link. It allows users to modify certain AR-15-style rifles and convert them into machine guns. As per the National Firearms Act of 1936 (NFA), any device that can change a gun into a machine gun is regulated as a machine gun itself.“ THE AUTOKEY CARD DOES NO SUCH THING, WAS DESIGNED AS A JOKE, AND 2 MENS LIVES AND FAMILIES HAVE BEEN DESTROYED BY A MARXIST GOVERNMENT AND STALINIST… Read more »
Some how a few words where deleted
Naaaa…that isn’t a direct violation of the EIGHTH amendment. You know the one that says excessive bail and fines as well as CRUEL and UNLUAL punishment cannot be used. Oh, and of course the whole nonsense about machine guns in the first place. If the ATF can have them, why can’t the rest of us? Well according to SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED we can. However, due to the insanity behind all of this you wouldn’t catch me with one unless the SHTF and at that point I’ll look for someone in the government who is special that has one and… Read more »
UNUSUAL punishment. Ooopss!
Gee, I thought a judge like this could be fired? So based on what I THINK, she should be packing tomorrow.
Another woman in power!!! I hope you all see what I have been saying. Women should not have positions of power or be in politics. The bad ones way outnumber the good ones. ALWAYS!!!!!!
Don’t forget Laura Cofer Taylor, another woman.
Yep! Most men in poltics are absolute slime. Unfortunately, the women find ways of taking this to additional levels the men could only dream of.
I don’t mind anyone being slime. What I don’t like is when people use FEELINGS rather than LOGIC and don’t follow what our founders set forth as the rules to run a country by and are stupid enough to think that what they FEEL should be the laws in place or that they can be changed.
Constitution first, your feelings will gladly be discussed between you and your psychotherapist, but they will not change the constitution. Here’s more drugs to help you cope with not controlling everything.
America First / Trump 2024
Hi Musicman!
What you describe is what we are getting in this estrogencentric world of today. I know you already know that. Just had to say it.
Actual Constitutional law should always trump “feelings.” Increasingly, that does not seem to be the case.
Spot on!!!!
Why Music, I never knew you were so in tune…
Lol, this is the first comment I read this morning. Cute, thanks for the chuckle.
You THOUGHT….Five years hard labor…..
Yep, that’s just how they would like it. Ain’t hapenin to me in this life.
Young Mr. Hoover, is being sent to prison for promoting an object, that only
might inspire someone to produce a properly scaled part, that only might
alter a legal firearm, into a tool that frightens tyrannical types.
That’s why Marxocrats fear unabridged history books and bibles . . .
because they may inspire thoughts that tyrants can’t control.
Rut-Roh! PopTart gun boy better watch out!
Well since I can only give one thumbs up to nullify whoever the brain dead zombie was that gave you a thumbs down…
The so called US Constitution is 110% DEAD folks. If the Constitution was actually followed they would of NEVER even been charged. This is complete GARBAGE and shame the vile puke Gov’t for these antics. The Gov’t is just butt-hurt because Matt always mocked the ATF and they are bent and being pathetic babies. The US govt is the largest criminal cabal on planet Earth. Folks when is enough going to be ENOUGH period??
….it still seems excessively harsh for a crime with no victims.” ….and, a machine gun that couldn’t be made to function as a machine gun by the brilliant experts at the ATF……DUH!!! “As per the National Firearms Act of 1936 (NFA), any device that can change a gun into a machine gun is regulated as a machine gun itself.” Also, apparently any device that CANNOT change a gun into a machine gun is also regulated as a machine gun. Apparently, any THOUGHT that is thought could change a gun into a machine gun is regulated as a machine gun. Careful… Read more »
….it still seems excessively harsh for a crime with no victims.” ….and, a machine gun that couldn’t be made to function as a machine gun by the brilliant experts at the ATF……DUH!!!
This is the state making up the rules and structuring the court to achieve a conviction that conflicts with the Constitution. Sure they will appeal but with the unlimited legal budget the BATFE enjoys, it will likely steamroll them again. These boys are getting the shaft because the average American cannot understand the issue of calling a metal card a machine gun and destroying lives. Hell, most folks I know have never heard of the case and can’t wrap their heads around the facts of the trial. All they hear is “Machine Gun” and their eyes glaze over.
No one yet has been able to offer up any kind of a rebuttal to any of the points I laid out in my UGOOJFFC paper. NO ONE!!
There is nothing to rebut. You are right on and we all need to realize that the only answer is to get back to common law. This system is totally insane run by insane people with insane objectives. They will consider me insane for suggesting that they are insane.