Polymer80 Closes Its Doors After Mounting Legal Troubles

Polymer80, at one time the largest manufacturer of 80% receiver kits for home gun builders, has shut down operations, becoming a casualty of the anti-Second Amendment agenda. The company caved to insurmountable legal defense and settlement costs that have plagued Polymer80 to the tune of millions. 

“In order to be able to stop hemorrhaging we had to shut down and get some things in order,” Polymer80 CEO Loran Kelley Jr. said in a statement released on social media. Kelley referred to the onslaught of legal actions filed against Polymer80 in the past few years, “P80 was getting sued left and right. Probably twice a month.” The suits claim that the company perpetuates gun violence simply by existing, that is to say by manufacturing and selling their 80% receiver kits.

While the cost of that much legal defense can be enough to shutter any company, clearly the intent from the suits, the last two years have seen Polymer80 and its founders reach combined settlements of $7.5 million with Los Angeles, Baltimore and Philadelphia. As a settlement condition, the company agreed to stop selling its products in California, Maryland and certain parts of Pennsylvania. A D.C. court ordered Polymer80 to halt sales in the capital as well, imposing more than $4 million in penalties, claiming the company made false and misleading claims about the legality of its products, encouraging families of victims affected by criminal usage of Polymer80-based firearms to sue as well.

Anti-Second Amendment groups driving the legal actions celebrated the closure as a win for their agenda and an epic fail for Polymer80. Philadelphia city council president, Kenyatta Johnson, called it, “a victory in our efforts to combat illegal gun use here.”

“This sends a message that the selling of ghost guns and illegal ghost gun parts will not be tolerated…And if you are selling them, we will be coming after you,” she said. With the understanding that “illegal gun use” covers all firearm-related crimes, I would like to ask Johnson when the “City of Brotherly Love” was last considered a peaceful and non-violent metropolis.

A common attack on Polymer80 is the claim that its products were increasingly present at crime scenes, ostensibly because buyers could purchase kits without background checks, furthering the insistence that P80-based firearms had become the criminal weapon of choice. This scrutiny, from policymakers and law enforcement has been the driving force behind the battery of lawsuits and regulations that ultimately resulted in the company’s closure.

The ATF, under the Biden administration in 2022, imposed a rule requiring sellers of builder kits to serialize parts and conduct background checks on prospective buyers. That is to say that the administration and the ATF conspired to circumvent the legislative process by creating a “rule” that is punishable by the full force of the law with little regard for the fact that Americans are smart enough to see they are simply making up laws without the Constitutionally required Congressional process. It is a clear disregard for checks and balances. Remember this when you see advertisements this election season claiming Democrats are trying to protect and preserve the Constitution.

“The effort to address the illegal use of ghost guns was a combination of litigation, a push for rulemaking by the ATF and states and cities passing laws cracking down on ghost gun sales,” Everytown for Gun Safety, an anti-Second Amendment group that supported the legal actions against Polymer80, said in a statement. In their own words, the use of litigation as a financial weapon and the circumvention of the legislative process were the tools they utilized to put Polymer80 out of business and Americans on the unemployment line. They do not even remotely attempt to hide this, instead flaunting it in open mockery of people’s intelligence. 

In truth, the closure highlights a legal system that has been weaponized specifically for this purpose, and that does not protect Americans equally. Building privately used firearms at home without the formalities associated with purchasing at the local gun store is a long-standing tradition in America. The Anti-Second Amendment lobby claims, however, that the process used to be difficult before companies like Polymer80, suggesting that the number of do-it-yourself gun builders prior was relatively low. However, nowhere in the law is a difficulty level or the number of Americans that exercise the long-standing tradition stated as a factor that would cause the right to expire. Additionally, the argument is disingenuous as these groups also target gun builders using 3D printing technology, which is truly a “from scratch” process.

Polymer80 had been in business since 2013, selling kits based on unfinished receivers that must be completed privately by the end user. The company’s name refers to the receiver in 80% form that must be milled, drilled and otherwise manufactured before being assembled with additional parts into a functional firearm. The product was marketed exclusively to hobbyists, however, opponents argue that its misuse by criminals is somehow a liability of Polymer80. Ironically enough, this phenomenon only seems to occur in the firearm industry. Can you imagine the same groups accusing the automobile industry of marketing to drunk drivers?

Although Polymer80’s doors are closed, its website is down, phones are disconnected and attempts to reach them via email are unsuccessful, Kelley suggested the closure may be temporary, stating he’ll be back.

“in some way, shape or form,” he said. A legal challenge to the ATF’s “Frames or Receivers” rule is scheduled for arguments before the U.S Supreme Court on Oct. 8, the outcome of which could jeopardize state restrictions, and hopefully provide recourse for those negatively affected by rogue actions of the ATF and the Biden administration.