On Friday, Daniel Defense head honcho Marty Daniel issued a statement announcing his support for the FixNICS bill currently pending in both the House and Senate. But FixNICS hasn’t exactly been popular with gun rights supporters, many of whom see it as a slippery slope step toward universal background checks and, eventually, full-blown registration.

Mr. Daniel apparently heard from his customers about their displeasure with his FixNICS stance. He just issued the following statement:

Friends,

First and foremost, let me say that I have heard your voices. I put out a statement on Friday, supporting Senate Bill S.2135 also known as the Fix NICS Act. I have received overwhelming feedback since putting out this statement, which has brought to my attention that there are significant and justified concerns regarding this bill. I can no longer in good conscience put my support behind S.2135.

I released the original statement because I believed it was the best option available at this time to hold back the continued attacks on the Second Amendment and the erosion of our rights. I was wrong.

Let me be very clear:

• My life’s work is to protect an individual’s right to keep and bear arms by holding our lawmakers accountable to the Second Amendment.

• I believe that all firearms laws that limit the rights of law abiding citizens are unconstitutional.

• I will never support any legislation which infringes on any individuals rights, and could potentially subvert due process.

• Myself, my Family, and Daniel Defense love and serve our Veterans every day. I would never support a legislative measure which would strip them of their rights based on their history of service and sacrifice.

Thank you to everyone who reached out and voiced your concerns. You are a motivated and passionate group of people which I am proud to call my peers, my friends, and my family. We are all united in one fight – the fight to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. I will never turn my back on you. I stand with you and I am ready to continue to fight for our rights.

-Marty

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77 COMMENTS

  1. Well, good…he listened and that was clearly the right course correction. I never suspected he was the type to sell 2A supporters (his customers) down the river, but sometimes these CEOs don’t stay in contact with their customers as much as they should. So, corrected!

      • We’ve all made the same kind mistake Marty Daniel has made at one point in our lives only to learn a few days later it wasn’t the most informed belief/statement we’ve had. Give them a little slack; he’s clearly on our side.

    • A lesson to be learned If you hold any kind of public position: When you find yourself in the midst of a moral panic—shut the f**k up and wait until the hyper-emotionalism has passed. Then, and only then, should you attempt to make cogent comments about guns and gun-controls. Not doing this will virtually guarantee that you’ll bet get something of critical importance wrong. This guy didn’t do that, pissed off the very people he needs to sell his very high priced AR’s to . . . and got handed his head as a result.

    • Yeah, dead as dead can be… like Ruger. LOL.

      Every time some CEO says something dumb people come out of the woodwork predicting the demise of that company and… like Ruger, RRA, SA… so long as the company makes a decent product it never dies.

      • Ruger and S&W both came within a hairsbreadyh of bankruptcy, and SA has taken quite a hit to their bottom line. You’re not entirely wrong, but you also seem to imply that such companies never face any damage because of retarded statements from their execs, when that is patently false

        • They just built a big new building to handle increased demand.

          Be a shame to have a lotta decreased demand.

        • I never said they don’t face damage nor did I say anything that should be taken as my suggesting that. I implied nothing on that front. At all. I simply said they don’t go out of business.

          Quite clearly they do take a hit sometimes it’s pretty bad. However, there’s a difference between taking a big hit and going down in flames. It’s also true that S&W did a lot more than pay lip-service to gun control. IIRC they still, to this day, put a “Hillary Hole” on many of their guns. That’s a lot more than saying something dumb and they managed to survive it and survive it well enough that they still do it.

          The point is that every time this happens there are a zillion people predicting the flat-out demise of the company and that doesn’t happen. Arms companies are generally more resilient that many people give them credit for.

  4. Each time this happens its as if the individual or company has suddenly been woken from a deep coma and is surprised by the world around them.

    Are they really so oblivious? So out of touch? So unaware? I’d expect industry bodies to have their fingers on the pulse 24/7 but some of these people act as though they’ve been held in stasis for the past 20 years.

    • You are right!! Personally I always feel shocked at the violence of madmen and it makes me question where we went wrong but I won’t blame an inanimate object… or the folks who use them responsibly. Grieving is a process and tons of people are once again grieving a terrible loss. To make it worse folls such as Marty think they must do “something” but they cannot. Don’t give the madman an easy out.. Don’t give cowards a way out from their cowardess. Don’t excuse the FBI and MH system for their failures.

  5. Well I’ve never contemplated DD. Add it to Springfield,RRA,Dick’s and Cheaper ThanDirt AMONG OTHERS…

    • I have. They do make a rather nice AR, but the price of supporting them is just too high. They have floated these ‘trial’ gun control balloons before.
      Really, how long should it take for a thinking, reasoning, brain, witnessing these constant, back stabbing; ‘I now support the 21 year old age restriction’, only to see it followed within days by: ‘now wait…I didn’t really say what you all heard me say’, to wake up to the obvious conclusion that the gun controls have been their personal goal all along, and they just keep floating a balloon every so often to see how it flies? Its simple: anyone who comes out in favor of gun restrictions, only to quickly back pedal and retreat away, only to come back again and again with the same sh*t, are not operating honestly nor ethically, and do NOT believe in freedom and liberty FOR ALL, although they may well believe in THEIR OWN right to do whatever they please, with anything and anybody they please, whenever they please. Otherwise called: “rights for me, but not for thee”.
      And anyone like that is not one I will ever support, not with my vote(Trump), nor my dollars(DD), nor even so much as a penny. If I need a part and DD is the only distributor, I’ll make one on my manual mill first, even if it does take hours.
      The only exception I might make is for a customer that specifies certain DD(or CTD, or Springfield or whoever else fits the above description) parts and will hear of nothing else. In that case
      I might go ahead and do the build with whatever parts the customer wants, but I would sure make a good effort at talking them out of it first. As the saying goes: “the customer is always right…”, even though that seems to be fading away today, along with facts, evidence, reason, logic, etc. I just have not faced that situation yet. Most of my customers just want their piece to go bang again, and they don’t really care how I go about it. Only what it will cost.

      • Agree completely Kenneth. as far as liberty goes you either have it or not. there is no such animal as liberty lite. as soon as one liberty is taken another soon follows and it is always taken in increments unless it is by force of arms that it is taken.

    • If you keep pushing everyone out of the tent in a demand for absolute purity pretty soon there won’t be anyone left to hold up the tent and you’ll be wondering why you lost the battle of public opinion as the second amendment effectively gets erased.

      But, by all means. Worry only about the camel’s nose…

  6. At least, unlike some other gun companies, he was man enough to acknowledge that he was in the wrong and to fear his customer base.

  7. Nice appology….would it have been so hard to have just said NOTHING in the fist place? All set, Stag Arms makes fine rifles…no need for an overpriced D.D. when Stag will replace my barrel free for LIFE.

    • Stag will do that, really? Hmm, makes me consider them. Never disliked them, but never really considered them. Have to look into that, thanks for the comment.

      • Lifetime transferable warranty and free barrel replacement for life..plus, Im a southpaw and love having a rifle that is truly left-handed. FWIW, Mine has been flawless over 2000+ rounds and I LOVE it.

  8. Too little too late, eat shit Marty. If people patted you on the back instead of voicing their displeasure you wouldn’t have done a 180 on the subject.

    • Yup, if he was true to his beliefs,he never would have comprised to start with..this is the end game folks…no comprise..ever

  10. I’m glad that he came to his senses, however the problem still exists that he even came up with this lamebrain idea in the first place. I’ve never purchased his rifles before I’ve always thought they were way overpriced for what you get. But now I’m surely never buying a Marty Daniels product. And I would suggest everyone think about exactly what he did before you spend a dollar on something he built.

  12. As a further note; the only compromise Firearms manufacturers should be prepared to support would be a resetting of the board to the opening move. We have compromised too much already and if the commies want to talk then let’s talk about undoing the past one hundred years.

  13. Glad I’m not in need of anything DD produces.if I was I would surely find another producer,he should have thought of that first,A Bit To Late.

  15. Hopefully people are showing the same passion in showing their displeasure to their representatives and politicians, local school boards, sheriffs, etc. I am less concerned with DD and more bothered by Republicrats in Florida.

  16. His statement was timely and resolute. I am actually impressed.

    His statement seems absolute on the individual RKBA. I’m not going to cast a stone.

  17. I’m not the biggest fan of FixNICS, it was palatable when it was attached to the National Reciprocity law. But it isn’t the end of the world that many on here make it out to be. I know some claim that it would create new prohibited people, but that is blatantly false, if you are a prohibited person after the S2135 version of FixNICS passes, you are a prohibited person today.

    You are only getting proceeds because the agency involved didn’t upload the records to NICS like they are supposed to. FixNICS doesn’t create any new categories of prohibited peoples, just provides federal programs to get more of the prohibited person records to be upload to NICS.

      • No I supported a law that simply made NICS do what it is supposed to do, prevent prohibited persons from buying guns, in exchange for getting National Reciprocity.

        FixNICS isn’t gun control, it makes no changes to who can and can’t buy guns. It simply provides programs to ensure that all records on prohibited persons are uploaded to NICS.

        But without National Reciprocity attached I hope it dies. But that doesn’t make FixNICS gun control.

        • Please explain how NICS is not gun control.

          You support something that makes gun control work even better and you say that you don’t support gun control.

        • It is quite simple, because it makes no changes in the control law. If you are prohibited under FixNICSs you are prohibited now.

        • NICS is just the honor system, with the man sticking it to those with honor. The only one’s keeping that Led Zepplin inflated are the lawful and the honorable subjecting themselves to it. The FBI doesn’t fuck over criminals as bad. Why? because they don’t know where or who they are, and when they do THEY HIDE THE MUTHAFUCKERS FROM PROSECUTION FOR MONEY, cough FISA.

        • “It is quite simple, because it makes no changes in the control law. If you are prohibited under FixNICSs you are prohibited now.”

          Do you believe that prohibited persons should not be allowed to own a firearm?

        • @PPGMD: Look at a similar statement.

          I don’t support rounding up Jews. I support law that will make it easier for existing laws to round up Jews; to make it round up Jews more efficiently. But, I don’t support rounding up Jews.

          See the absurdity in your posts?

        • “Except we aren’t talking about jews.”

          It was an analogy.

          You say that you don’t support gun control yet you support legislation that will allow gun control to operate more efficiently. SMH

          EDITED: The question was given a non-answer elsewhere. lol

    • Having the government submit people’s private medical records isn’t a good idea.

      I wish people like you would just turn to the grabbers because you do the 2A cause more harm than good.

      • They are already pro-gun control but just won’t yet admit it to themselves. They might as well take an honest look in the mirror already. It would be better for the RKBA if they did.

        • I believe that people that are such a danger to society that they should own guns, shouldn’t be out in society. They should be in a jail/prison or a mental health hospital.

          But what I think, and how the world works are two separate things. That would be a black and white world, one that recognizes the second amendment as the unlimited right that it was written as, but we don’t live in a black and white world. We live in a world that is shades of grey.

          In that world we have the NICS system, and applying a fix to the NICS system (and it really isn’t a fix, it is programs to encourage agencies to do their jobs). Isn’t the end of the world, particularly if we get national reciprocity. And it certainly isn’t a big enough issue that I am going to attack DD over it.

        • You still haven’t answered the simple question. Do you support keeping firearms away from prohibited persons? (In the REAL world, right now, as things are)

      • Except it has no references to medical records. The only medical records would be one that involve COURT adjudication.

        For god sake people read the damn law. It takes maybe an hour if you cross reference the current federal statues. It doesn’t require anything that shouldn’t already be reported to NICS.

  18. Translation: “Even though I meant what I said, I’m withdrawing my support of FixNICS because it will cost me customers and money. I wish I had thought about that before I opened my mouth. But if I could get away with it, I’d stab you in the back again, and you gun people can shove it sideways.”

  21. We should prohibit prohibited persons.

    No plea bargains, no parole. Serve the time and should no longer be a prohibited person.

    If the person needs to be prohibited from firearms possession, the person should not be out in society.

    • I literally could not agree more. It’s a travesty to permanently separate people from their ability to defend themselves.

    • You are still looking to government to solve the problem. That is a gigantic mistake. Fix self-defense law and honor shall not be infringed. Things will sort out without much government at all.

  22. Anyone accepting that BS of a retraction is a fool. He has showed where he stands by printing that garbage. Now all of the sudden he has had some famous awakening. That does not change overnight. What he did, is read all the comments on DD Facebook page. Anyone of you ducks that are willing to give him a pass are no different than the rest of the community of gun grabbers.

  24. We’re going to get Fix Nix with no Reciprocity or HPA. Jokes on you conservative Republican voters.

  25. GDamn that guy backslides worse then I do. – – – Support Your Local Law Enforcement- – – Janet Reno was a nice guy and did the right thing burning those kids to save them.

  26. Shows what happens when you try to split the baby. Shit, they figured that out something like 2000+ years ago.

  30. I hope he genuinely is on our side and not just backtracking because he was afraid of his bottom line.

    One statement he said stands out, where he believed that the fix nics was going to be a good compromise to basically stop all the attacks on the Second Amendment. Thinking that the left is going to leave the Second Amendment alone once they get that.

    That is comical at best and sad at worst. The next tragedy and the left will be yelling for something else, they never relent and they always keep incrementally chipping away at the Second Amendment.

    The time for compromise and giving up anything is OVER ! We should not give them one freaking inch on anything ever again, and we need to start fighting to get more of our rights (that have already been stolen illegally through legislation and not through a constitutional convention) back.

  31. So Cliff H the National Academy of Sciences has reviewed the peer reviewed literature and “…concludes that it is not possible to reach any scientifically supported conclusion…” regarding your propaganda that increasing guns decreases crime
    https://www.nap.edu/read/10881/chapter/2#p2000ba499970001001(“Firearms and Violence”, National Research Council, Executive Summary, Right-to-Carry Laws, paragraph 2, line 5)

    There is simply no evidence for yalls mantra “An armed society is a polite society”.

    There is John Lotts debunked pseudo scholarship riddled with methodological and theoretical flaws, and Lotts unfortunate habit of repeatedly making data errors (always in favor of his fantasy thesis) and lying, and Lotts laughable creation of a fake online personality purporting to be a former student of his to laud his false claims and market his propaganda.
    https://www.armedwithreason.com/shooting-down-the-gun-lobbys-favorite-academic-a-lott-of-lies/

    And of course there are many instances of this propaganda being disseminated online and liars/dunces like you imbibing and regurgitating it.
    https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/harvard-flaw-review/

    But there is no evidence that more guns=less crime at you stupidly endlessly intone.

    • Okay, name changing one, obviously you didn’t read the book. But let’s pretend you are right and more guns don’t cause the crime to drop. (Like in Vermont with no restrictions on carry of guns ever, open or concealed, and lowest crime rates in the US. Or the whole USA, that has unprecedented amount of firearms among our population, and crime rates are lowest in 40 years.)

      Is there any real science showing the opposite is true? You grabbers keep squealing about more guns causing more crime. Not “gun crime”, crime. Suicides not included, if you please.

      AWB did nothing to crime rate one way or another. (Rifles are used only in couple of percent of murders each year. All rifles, not just semi automatic ones.) But you gun grabbers want more of it, this time with feeling and without sunset. Why? What you plan to do to us after you disarm us?

  32. I don’t know if more guns equals less crime in my state, or my county, or my city, Nor do I care. But more guns do equal less crime on my property and in my house, That’s a fact!

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