While we in the firearms industry brace for the Biden DOJ to release their new “ghost gun” regulation, the corporate media has been hard at work spinning up their propaganda machines to defame companies that enable citizens to make their own firearms at home.
Their latest target? Polymer80.
For those unfamiliar with Polymer80, they are a company that produces unfinished polymer frames for firearms. With these kits, people can build firearms in the comfort of their homes 100% legally. Unless you have a criminal record, you’d be breaking the law. Remember that point because we’ll be revisiting that.
The ATF has previously determined that Polymer80’s kits do not meet the legal definition of a firearm. They even have a determination letter from the ATF to prove it.
The Biden DOJ announced in 2021 that they would be pursuing a rule change to regulate 80% kits as firearms themselves. This is a dangerous precedent yet seems to be where the Biden DOJ and ATF are headed.
So, to prepare for this move, the corporate media has started its propaganda campaign. If you keep an eye on the news cycle, you’ll begin to see many more articles about the “ghost gun problem in America.” Check out this graph showing the increase in the use of the term ghost gun.
This media campaign is just the groundwork being laid so that Biden can step out later this month and announce that he’s “won the war on ghost guns” with his new rule change.
While the DOJ and ATF point to an increase in the use of these privately made firearms in gun crimes, it is worth noting that if these so-called “ghost guns” suddenly disappeared off the face of the earth, criminals would continue to use stolen or straw-purchased firearms to commit crimes.
For those unfamiliar with home manufacturing, it’s completely legal under current US law to build a firearm at home for personal use. For those who own CNC machines or 3D printers, it’s an easy process. For those who don’t, it’s much more complicated.
Companies like polymer80 seek to make this home build process easier by selling what amounts to an unfinished Glock frame. Private citizens can finish these frames at home, and because of the extensive aftermarket for Glock pistols, home builders can buy most other components like slides and barrels online.
Also, regulating things that are not legally considered firearms as firearms themselves is an insane precedent that stands to endanger law-abiding citizens. We saw an example of this play out in real-time earlier this year when the ATF randomly decided to mass deny form 1 kits for solvent traps. This, in a way, mirrors the current proposed rulemaking as many in the firearms world saw solvent traps as 80% kits for home suppressor building, which is also 100% legal.
Those who tried to follow the legal process to build a suppressor were then told that what constituted a “silencer” in the eyes of the ATF was the intent. What they had in their possession didn’t much matter, whether it was oil filters, solvent traps, or a six-inch section of metal pipe.
Now, the Biden DOJ stands to do the same with 80% frames.
The real question is how far this line of thinking will go. Will the ATF regulate PLA plastic and blocks of aluminum? Will Home Depot be required to hold an FFL to do business? This may sound like a ridiculous argument, but when all the government needs to prosecute you is to determine your “intent,” the law becomes a tool for them to strip you of your rights instead of something that protects citizens from bad actors.
Keep in mind that gun control is like red meat for the base in Biden’s eyes. Much of this legislation is useless at best at stopping actual gun crime yet is pushed to better Biden’s poll numbers with his neoliberal base. Right now, with low poll numbers and headed into the midterms, Biden needs all the victories he can get. So, it’s no surprise that his allies in the corporate legacy media are drumming up a “problem” for him to “solve.”
