Gun Kit Manufacturer to Pay Baltimore $1.2 Million in Settlement Over Increasing Violence

The city of Baltimore will receive a $1.2 million payout to settle a lawsuit with build-it-yourself gun kit producer Polymer80. This comes after officials claimed the company’s “ghost guns” were becoming increasingly prevalent in local crime. Baltimore is at least the third city to settle a complaint involving the manufacturer.

Polymer80 and Baltimore reached a settlement on Wednesday in which the company will pay the city $1.2 million. Additionally, as reported by the Sun, Polymer80 will cease selling its products, providing customer service, and advertising to Maryland residents.

The settlement comes 18 months after the city sued Polymer80—the nation’s largest manufacturer of homemade, untraceable guns—in Baltimore Circuit court.

The city claimed that the brand’s products accounted for 91% of all ghost guns Baltimore police recovered between January 2020 and April 2022.

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The sale of Polymer80 firearms increased the number of ghost guns seized in Baltimore. According to the city’s claim, this went from zero before 2019 to 324 in 2021 and 462 in 2023. It was argued that this would create a “public nuisance.” 

It contributed to increased deaths by gun violence, lowered property values, and a rise in unsolved crimes. Additionally, it led to higher costs for emergency services, law enforcement, social services, and public works.

The lawsuit alleged that Polymer80 has been able to skirt federal and state firearms laws with its build-it-yourself kits. These kits do not require background checks and provide buyers with guns that are “80% complete.” Additionally, they include instructions to finish putting them together at home.

Baltimore described Wednesday’s settlement as the “most expansive” with the “strictest injunctive terms so far” of any municipal lawsuit against ghost gun manufacturers brought nationwide.

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Wednesday’s settlement did not apply to Hanover Armory, a firearms dealer selling polymer products, who was also named a defendant in the city’s lawsuit. According to the Baltimore Sun, the litigation involving Hanover Armory is ongoing and scheduled for trial in October.

Polymer80 did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment.

“By falsely classifying its kits as ‘non-firearms,’ Polymer80 has ensured that many of their products end up in the hands of convicted felons and minors,” the city of Baltimore said in a statement Wednesday.

“Ghost guns” are untraceable firearms commonly assembled from different parts and do not have serial numbers. The popularity of self-assembled or 3-D-printed ghost guns has increased over the last 15 years as firearms laws have become stricter at the federal level and in many states.

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In recent years, the prevalence of untraceable firearms has surged. The number seized by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives increased by 1,000% between 2017 and August 2023.

Such guns have become the focus of increasing scrutiny by the Biden administration. In 2022, the administration passed a series of new regulations to ban the manufacturing of ghost guns and reclassify the kits sold to make guns at home as firearms themselves.

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