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Polymer80

American manufacturer of firearm parts kits

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionOct 13, 2025
Entity authorityQ86728341
Source-derived summary

Polymer80, Inc. was an American manufacturer of firearms parts kits that included unfinished receivers (also known as "80 percent" receivers) used for making privately made firearms. The company was founded in 2013 by Loran Kelley Jr. and David Borges and was headquartered in Dayton, Nevada. Polymer80 received press attention for the frequent use of its products in crimes involving so-called "ghost guns", which in specific cases resulted in lawsuits being brought against the company. In July 2024, Polymer80 ceased operations and began liquidating its assets.

Background

Since 1968, U.S. persons involved in the business of the manufacture or distribution of firearms must have a Federal Firearms License and serialize their products. However, the creation and possession of unserialized firearms for non-commercial purposes (i.e. personal use) is generally legal and unregulated under federal law. Typically, only a single, finished part of a weapon is considered to be a "firearm" according to the Gun Control Act, and this is most often the weapon's frame or receiver.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Polymer80” is american manufacturer of firearm parts kits. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Polymer80, American and manufacturer, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2013, 2024, 1968—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Polymer80, American and manufacturer is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “american manufacturer of firearm parts kits” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 13, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q86728341. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2013, 2024 and 1968.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Polymer80”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Polymer80 primary sources, Polymer80 archive and Polymer80 research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Polymer80”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Polymer80” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.