Ghost gun manufacturer targeted in lawsuit by Washington DC

This is a story about how a company flooded a community with illegal, untraceable firearms. For years, Polymer80, Inc. sold “ghost gun” kits to residents of the District of Columbia. These kits allowed people to easily build fully functional, unserialized handguns and semi-automatic rifles at home. This business model directly undermined the District’s gun laws, which are designed to protect its citizens. The real victims are the people living in communities where these untraceable weapons inevitably end up, making everyone less safe.

The Corporate Playbook: Deception for Profit

Polymer80’s strategy was built on a foundation of deception. The company sold products it called “receiver blanks” and “Buy, Build, Shoot” kits. A court, however, found that these kits are, for all practical purposes, firearms because they are designed to be and can be “readily converted” into deadly weapons. Polymer80 even provided instructions and links to YouTube videos showing customers exactly how to complete the assembly.

The most cynical part of their playbook was how they addressed the central question of legality. On their website, in a section directly addressing the question “Is it legal?”, the company’s answer was an emphatic “YES!”. They also had Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that assured consumers they could lawfully make a firearm for personal use.

This was a profound misrepresentation. These statements were false for consumers in the District of Columbia. Polymer80’s products were not legal in D.C..

They didn’t have a license to sell firearms in the District. And consumers absolutely did not have the right to possess these self-manufactured, unregistered, and unserialized firearms. The company’s website contained no information about the products’ legality under local D.C. law.

A Cascade of Consequences: The Real-World Impact

The consequences of Polymer80’s actions represent a direct threat to public health and safety and an erosion of community well-being.

Public Health & Safety

The business model of selling ghost gun kits is a direct assault on public safety. It creates a supply chain for firearms that completely bypasses the most basic and essential gun safety laws. In D.C., Polymer80 sold these firearms without:

• Being a licensed firearms dealer.
• Conducting background checks on the purchasers.
• Ensuring the firearms had unique serial numbers for tracing.

This means that deadly weapons were sold directly to people in the District with no record of the sale and no way to trace the weapon if it was used in a crime. This puts untraceable firearms in the hands of individuals who may be legally prohibited from owning them, endangering entire communities.

Economic Fallout

The court ordered Polymer80 to pay a significant civil penalty for its illegal conduct. The penalty was calculated based on the number of days the company made false and misleading statements on its website to D.C. consumers.

Here is a breakdown of the civil penalty assessed by the court:

This $4 million penalty represents a direct financial consequence for the company’s decision to prioritize profit over public safety

A System Designed for This: Profit, Deregulation, and Power

Polymer80’s business model is a creature of neoliberal capitalism. It exists by exploiting a loophole in regulations. The company argued its products were not “firearms” but simply parts, pointing to determinations by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). This reliance on a narrow, technical definition that ignores the practical reality of the product is a classic tactic used by corporations to evade responsibility.

This is how the system is designed to work for capital. A company can create a product that has the exact same deadly function as a regulated product but, due to a semantic loophole, is not subject to the same safety rules.

The company then profits from selling this dangerous product, while the public bears the cost of the inevitable violence and harm that follows. The pursuit of profit is the only metric that matters, and the “externalities”—like crime and public health crises—are socialized. It’s a system that privatizes profit and socializes risk.

Dodging Accountability: How the Powerful Evade Justice

While the District of Columbia secured a victory in civil court, this case highlights a key feature of our justice system: it is often reactive, not preventative. Polymer80 sold its products into the District for over three years before it was forced to stop. During that time, an unknown number of untraceable firearms entered the community.

The company was hit with a $4 million fine and a permanent injunction preventing it from selling its products in D.C. and requiring it to warn consumers and dealers about the illegality. This is a significant outcome.

However, it is a civil penalty, not a criminal conviction. The framework often treats this kind of corporate misconduct as a financial dispute to be settled with a fine, which can be seen as a “cost of doing business” for a profitable enterprise. The individuals making the decisions that endanger the public are rarely held personally accountable.

Reclaiming Power: Pathways to Real Change

This case shows that determined local governments can fight back against irresponsible corporations. But real, lasting change requires systemic reform. We need to eliminate the loopholes that allow ghost guns to exist in the first place. This means passing clear, unambiguous federal laws that define any kit or object that can be “readily converted” into a firearm as a firearm itself, subject to all the same rules, including background checks and serialization.

Furthermore, we must shift the legal paradigm to create real accountability for corporate executives. When a company’s business model is predicated on selling a product that fuels violence, the leaders of that company should face consequences that go beyond fines paid by the corporation. Empowering communities and public prosecutors to hold these individuals responsible is a critical step toward rebalancing the scales of justice.

Conclusion: A Story of a System, Not an Exception

The Polymer80 case is a perfect illustration of the failures of late-stage capitalism. It shows us a system where a company can knowingly and deceptively sell products that make communities less safe, all in the pursuit of profit. The legal battle is just one chapter in a much larger story about a society grappling with the devastating consequences of an economic system that prioritizes corporate interests over human lives. Polymer80 is a symptom of a system that is functioning exactly as intended.

All factual claims in this article were derived from the Superior Court of the District of Columbia’s order in case number 2020 CA 002878 B, issued on August 10, 2022.