Bay State Convict Pleads Guilty To Illegal Possession Of Self-Built Guns He Brought To New Hampshire

            CONCORD, N.H. – United States Attorney Emily Gray Rice announced that Raymond L. Blackmer, III, pleaded guilty in federal court to illegally possessing guns that he assembled from component parts in Massachusetts and then brought to New Hampshire.  Blackmer pleaded guilty to one count of the federal crime of Illegal Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon.  Blackmer is 51 years old, and, before his arrest in this case, he lived in Easthampton, Massachusetts.     

            According to statements made during today’s hearing, the Easthampton (Massachusetts) Police Department learned on November 6, 2015, that Blackmer was intending to travel from Massachusetts to New Hampshire with one or more firearms.  Information developed by the Police Department indicated that Blackmer had assembled the subject firearms in his workshop in Easthampton, Massachusetts, from component parts that he had bought on the internet.  Later that day, surveilling police officers watched Blackmer leave his Easthampton home with suspected firearms and then drive to and across the Massachusetts border into Winchester, N.H., where he was stopped by law enforcement officers for the purpose of executing a previously obtained federal search warrant on Blackmer’s car.  The warrant became effective when the officers observed Blackmer transporting the suspected firearms across the state line, thereby establishing probable cause that the interstate requirement of the federal crime of Illegal Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon was satisfied.  Upon executing the warrant, law enforcement officers discovered two AR-15 style rifles, rifle sites and a loaded magazine in the trunk of Blackmer’s car.  A later search of Blackmer’s workshop in Massachusetts yielded an additional nine firearms in various states of assembly, at least five which were completed enough to qualify as firearms under federal law.  In connection with his plea, Blackmer admitted that, at the time of the traffic stop, he previously had been convicted of felonies on at least five prior occasions. 

            United States District Judge Steven J. McAuliffe took Blackmer’s guilty plea and scheduled his sentencing for November 22, 2016.  The plea agreement provides that both Blackmer and the government will recommend a total term of incarceration of seventy months, materially more than the anticipated advisory federal sentencing guideline range.  Blackmer has been detained since his arrest on November 6, 2015, and is expected to remain in custody until after he serves the term of incarceration that Judge McAuliffe imposes.

            This matter was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in both Manchester, N.H., and in Springfield, Massachusetts, as well as the Easthampton (Massachusetts) Police Department and the New Hampshire State Police.  The Office of the District Attorney for the Northwest District of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts provided important support.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Bill Morse.

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