Popular AR-15 Manufacturer Pleads Guilty in Rare Gun Industry Prosecution [View all]
The holiday season kicked off with record sales for gunmakers, but it was decidedly less than happy for one Connecticut gunmaker. Stag Arms, known for its popular left-handed AR-15s, plead guilty to violating the National Firearms Act, which requires people and organizations to register any machine guns in their possession with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Stag founder Mark Malkowski entered the plea on the company’s behalf just before Christmas.
The charges come after ATF agents inspecting facilities last year found approximately 3,000 rifle receivers and 22 machine gun receivers without serial numbers. Some of those receivers — the part of a gun that contains the trigger group and magazine well, and is itself legally defined as a firearm by the ATF — had no identifying markings at all. The inspectors also found the company hadn’t complied with manufacturing recordkeeping requirements, which state that a gunmaker must document the make, caliber, and serial number of each firearm produced. Serial numbers and manufacturing records help law enforcement track a weapon’s chain of custody; they’re essential tools for combatting gun trafficking.
As a result of Stag’s plea, the company will pay $500,000 in fines and Malkowski will personally pay $100,000. Stag will forfeit 109 of those receivers seized during a May raid. Malkowski must also sell the company and agree never to own or manage a gun company. These penalties give Stag the unfortunate distinction of being one of the rare gun makers to actually face criminal prosecution for misconduct. Heavy as the fines sound, they could have been far steeper. Possession of a single unregistered machine gun or a firearm without a serial number can be punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
http://www.thetrace.org/2016/01/connecticut-gunmaker-loses-license/
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