The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office has secured a settlement from the country’s top ghost gun kit manufacturer, enforcing the requirement for customer background checks and inclusion of serial numbers on products sold across California.
Polymer80, the gun manufacturer, has agreed to a settlement that includes $5 million in penalties, as disclosed by City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto’s office on Tuesday, May 30. This sum comprises $4 million in civil penalties from Polymer80 and an additional $1 million from the company’s two founders.
With this agreement in place, Polymer80 is prohibited from selling ghost gun kits in California unless the products carry serial numbers and the company conducts federally mandated background checks. Its dealers and distributors are likewise barred from selling unserialized gun kits in the state, and the company can no longer offer customer support within California.
The settlement amount will be equally divided between the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County, with the funds earmarked exclusively for consumer protection initiatives.
In a statement, Feldstein Soto said, “This settlement holds Polymer80 and its founders accountable, keeps guns out of the hands of prohibited people, makes L.A. neighborhoods safer and will help law enforcement do their jobs. More than 16,000 people have been killed by gun violence so far in 2023. This is an important step toward preventing unnecessary deaths, especially as Congress repeatedly fails to take action.”
Polymer80, a Nevada-based company, is the largest manufacturer of ghost gun kits and parts in the U.S., with its products enabling customers to assemble untraceable guns at home. Between January 2020 and Feb. 2, 2023, the Los Angeles Police Department retrieved over 4,200 Polymer80 ghost guns, marking it as the most common brand recovered.
In 2021, then-City Attorney Mike Feuer launched a lawsuit on behalf of the state of California’s people, alleging that Polymer80 had breached federal Gun Control Act requirements and California state gun laws by not conducting compulsory background checks on its buyers.
Everytown Law, the country’s largest team of attorneys advocating for gun safety, and attorneys from the L.A.-based firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, jointly worked on the case.
“Online, no-questions-asked sales of ghost gun-building kits have funneled too many firearms into the hands of felons, minors, and other prohibited people,” stated Eric Tirschwell, executive director of Everytown Law. “This settlement sends a loud and clear message that gun sellers that put profit over public safety will be held accountable.”
Polymer80 has yet to comment on the settlement.
