ATF Agents Raid Gun Maker For Selling Build-It-Yourself Firearms

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) on Thursday raided a popular gun component manufacturer under suspicion that the organization was selling firearms without mandating background checks.

Polymer80, one of the nation’s leading sellers of unserialized gun components and DIY firearm kits, was suspected of illegally distributing and manufacturing guns and failing to conduct background checks, according to The Wall Street Journal. The ATF raided the Nevada business, despite 80% receivers, which the corporation primarily sells, being legal and not considered firearms, according to the government body’s website.

The investigation focused primarily on the company’s “Buy Build Shoot Kit,” which includes an 80% finished handgun frame and the components necessary to assemble that frame into a complete Polymer80 handgun, according to WSJ, which cited an ATF warrant. The agency determined that the set sold together meets the definition of a firearm and thereby would require a background check for purchasing, WSJ reported.

The ATF seized records in the raid and none of the corporation’s employees were arrested, according to WSJ.

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The agency previously approved Polymer80’s frames for sale, but the kits themselves were not submitted for ATF approval, WSJ reported.

Weapons built from unfinished frames are commonly referred to as “ghost guns” by anti-gun activists. Everytown For Gun Safety, which is largely financed by prominent Democrat Michael Bloomberg, called the DIY firearms “the fastest growing gun safety problem” in a May report.

Pro-Second Amendment groups like the Firearms Policy Coalition insist that “making firearms at home is an American tradition that predates the United States.”