Polymer80, Nation’s Largest Producer of Ghost Guns Recovered at Crime Scenes, Has Shuttered; Everytown Responds

Everytown Has Led the Effort to Shine a Light on the Dangerous Ghost Gun Industry Via Legal, Regulatory and Grassroots Accountability Efforts

NEW YORK – Polymer80, the nation’s largest producer of ghost gun kits and component parts, has shuttered. Polymer80’s kits allow people, including those prohibited from owning firearms, to build the unserialized, untraceable ghost guns that have been fueling our nation’s gun violence crisis over the past several years. 

“Untraceable ghost guns have been a dream come true for criminals, and a nightmare for law enforcement — and no gun maker is more to blame for this threat than Polymer80,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “Soon after ghost guns started turning up at crime scenes, Everytown launched a multi-pronged effort to hold Polymer80 accountable in court, get these weapons regulated like other guns, and pass state laws banning ghost guns outright. Polymer80 has long been morally bankrupt, and now its finances have followed suit.”

“For years, ghost guns have represented the fastest-growing gun safety threat to our communities, and Polymer80 has been the industry leader in finding new ways to skirt the law and get more ghost guns into the hands of dangerous and irresponsible individuals,” said Nick Suplina, senior vice president for Law and Policy at Everytown for Gun Safety. “Polymer80’s downfall is the logical – and fortunate – ending for a company that has completely neglected any responsibility for public safety. This should come as a wake-up call to the rest of the gun industry.” 

“Online, no-questions-asked sales of ghost gun-building kits have funneled too many firearms into the hands of felons and minors, and Polymer80 no doubt claims the lion’s share of the violence that has erupted due to such reckless business practices,” said Eric Tirschwell, executive director of Everytown Law. “Polymer80’s shuttering shows that its business model was viable only so long as it was helping felons and minors obtain firearms without background checks. Holding bad actors in the gun industry accountable in court makes a difference, and there is no question that Polymer80’s decision to shutter its operations will make Americans safer from the threat of gun violence.”

“No one should be able to buy a kit and build a deadly weapon at home without so much as a background check,” said Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action. “That’s why our movement has worked with gun sense champions in Virginia, Vermont, Massachusetts, and other states across the country to push through laws that prohibit the flow of ghost guns into our communities. Polymer80’s downfall is a testament to the power of our grassroots leaders who have been fighting across all arenas to hold bad actors like Polymer80 accountable. Whether it be in statehouses or the courtroom, we’re going to keep putting pressure on industry players to answer for the violence they’ve enabled.”

For years, Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund have led the effort to bring the ghost gun industry to its knees, working in the legal, regulatory, and grassroots arenas to bring about change and accountability: 

– December 2019: Everytown Law files a petition for rulemaking urging the ATF to address the growing menace of ghost guns.

– May 2020: Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund releases groundbreaking original research on ghost guns, including an analysis of more than 100 federal prosecutions involving ghost guns that shows ghost guns are connected to violent criminal enterprises, gun trafficking rings, and far-right extremists.

– August 2020: In the first lawsuit over the federal regulatory failure on ghost guns, Everytown Law and four cities (Columbia, Syracuse, Chicago, and San Jose) sue the ATF over its failure to act on the threat posed by ghost guns and to correct its misinterpretation of federal law. Everytown Law represented the cities in the suit, which was later discontinued when the ATF provided the relief requested when it promulgated a new rule in 2021. 

– December 2020: As part of a roadmap outlining ways the Biden-Harris Administration can protect the public from gun violence, Everytown urges the Administration to act on the threat of ghost guns.

– December 2020: Everytown Law sues a website selling ghost gun kits and parts on behalf of Mia Tretta, who was wounded with a ghost gun in the 2019 shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California.

– February 2021: With Everytown Law serving as co-counsel, Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer sues Polymer80 on behalf of the people of California, noting that over 700 of the ghost guns LAPD recovered in 2020 were made from Polymer80 parts.

– May 2021: Nick Suplina, Everytown’s senior vice president for law and policy, testifies before a U.S. Senate subcommittee on the threat posed by ghost guns.

– August 2021: Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund files a comment letter in support of the ATF’s proposed rulemaking to curb the ghost gun market. Everytown and Moms Demand Action drive nearly 100,000 comments in support of ATF’s proposed ghost guns rule.

– August 2021: Everytown Law sues Polymer80 on behalf of two L.A. County sheriff’s deputies wounded in a 2020 ghost gun shooting.

– April 2022: Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund runs digital ads on the home pages of the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal calling on the ATF to finalize the proposed ghost gun rule.

– April 2022: President Biden announces finalization of the ghost guns rule, and is introduced in the Rose Garden by Mia Tretta, a volunteer leader with Students Demand Action and gun violence survivor who was shot and wounded with a ghost gun in the 2019 shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California.

– May 2022: Everytown for Gun Safety, New York Mayor Eric Adams, a co-chair of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and New York Police Department Commissioner Keechant Sewell call on the ATF to revoke Polymer80’s federal firearms license, citing evidence of the company’s willful violation of federal gun laws.

– January 2023: 31 members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a nonpartisan coalition of current and former mayors that is part of Everytown for Gun Safety, release data about the manufacturers of recovered crime guns in their cities, showing a significant spike in ghost guns recovered at crime scenes across the country. 

– April 2023: Everytown Law files a lawsuit on behalf of the families of two 17-year-old teens who were both shot and killed by an 18-year-old classmate who purchased a Polymer80 ghost-gun building kit online, without age verification or a background check. 

– May 2023: Everytown Law and the Los Angeles City Attorney announce a $5 million settlement with Polymer80 and its founders that also banned Polymer80 from further selling ghost guns into California. 

– December 2023: Everytown Law announces a settlement with Polymer80 in their case representing two Los Angeles Sheriff’s Deputies who were ambushed and wounded in a shooting with a Polymer80 ghost gun. 

Everytown has also been hard at work to pass legislation in statehouses across the country, with 13 states and Washington D.C., including Nevada, Oregon, Illinois and Connecticut, now having laws to regulate ghost guns. 

In 2023, the ATF released crime gun data showing that from 2017 to 2021, 88 percent of the ghost guns recovered from crime scenes – where a manufacturer could be identified – were Polymer80 ghost guns. Additionally, from January 2020 to February 2023, police recovered more than 4,200 Polymer80 ghost guns in Los Angeles alone. And according to the United States Solicitor General, in just a five-month period between March and July 2023, over 13,000 suspected ghost guns were recovered by law enforcement and reported to ATF.  And earlier this year, a 12 and 13-year-old were arrested after using Polymer80 ghost guns in a carjacking and attempted carjacking in Seattle.

Last year, utilizing research from Everytown, the Washington Post reported on how American teenagers can, with ease, acquire the parts for ghost guns, often leading to deadly outcomes. 

ATF estimates that nearly 45,240 ghost guns have been recovered by law enforcement between 2016 and 2021, and local law enforcement agencies are seeing staggering increases in rates of recovery — rising as much as 100 percent in the last three years in places like San Diego and Los Angeles. Other communities have seen significant ghost gun recoveries, with sharp increases in the past year. In 2022, ATF recovered 25,785 ghost guns in domestic seizures, as well as 2,453 through international operations. So far in 2023, the Department of Justice has recovered more than 10,000 ghost guns domestically and 1,000 internationally. According to the LAPD, the department recovered 1,921 ghost guns in 2021, more than double the 813 ghost guns recovered in 2020. In Philadelphia, the police reported recovering 571 ghost guns in 2021, compared to 95 in 2019 and 250 in 2020. Ghost guns have also been weapons of choice for militant right-wing extremists and people who otherwise would not be able to pass a background check. In recent months, the country has also seen an increase of gun fire on school grounds with ghost guns and recoveries of ghost guns on campuses. 

Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund has compiled examples of ghost gun shootings from across the country since 2013, available here. Everytown’s report on ghost guns, featuring testimonials from law enforcement officers, can be found here.