Guns are the only consumer product manufactured in the United States that are not subject to federal health and safety regulation. This unique exemption has allowed the firearms industry to innovate for lethality rather than safety. Americans deserve to live free from the fear of gun violence. We deserve effective federal, state, and local policies that save lives.
We deserve, and demand, gun industry accountability.
Campaign Research Notes, August 18, 2025 – Gun Owners of America (GOA) held their second annual Gun Owners Advocacy and Leadership Summit (GOALS) on August 9th and 10th in Knoxville, Tennessee. VPC staff traveled to the meeting and attended panels featuring gun industry members and GOA staffers.
Silencers are devices that are attached to the barrel of a firearm to reduce the amount of noise generated by the firing of the weapon. This study details the push by the firearms industry and gun lobby to make it far easier for private citizens to buy and possess firearm silencers and the threat this effort poses to law enforcement and public safety (including numerous examples of lethal attacks and criminal activity involving silencers).
Hundreds of Michigan residents possess a federal license to manufacture firearms, yet relatively few actually produce any guns. Instead, the license can be used to bypass requirements that apply to unlicensed individuals buying a gun, such as background checks. In addition, license holders can purchase firearms interstate from wholesalers at discount and in unlimited quantities and, by paying additional fees to the government, undercut the tight restrictions on the sale and possession of new fully automatic machine guns and firearm silencers.
Tens of thousands of Americans possess a federal license to either sell or manufacture guns. Yet surprisingly few of these license holders actually operate storefront gun stores or actual factories that manufacture firearms. Instead, they operate out of their homes, offices, or other non-traditional locations—often unbeknownst to their neighbors and potentially in violation of state or local business, licensing, zoning, or other laws or regulations.
In recent years, the gun industry has aggressively marketed AR-15 and AK-47 assault pistols that use common rifle ammunition. These pistols have emerged as a new and growing trend.
Designed for increased lethality, the unique military-bred design features of semiautomatic assault weapons allow the shooter to kill as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time.
Thousands of Americans possess a federal license to manufacture firearms, yet few actually produce any guns. Instead, the license can be used to avoid restrictions on the sale and transfer of firearms that private citizens must abide by under federal law, such as waiting periods, background checks, licensing, or registration requirements.
Developments in the manufacture of homemade, unserialized firearms and lack of enforcement of existing laws threaten to undermine the integrity of the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA), the foundation of federal firearms regulation.
In response to stagnation in the traditional white male market, the gun industry and National Rifle Association are now targeting Black and Latino Americans as potential new gun buyers for both financial and political gain.
Moving quickly to exploit the increase in hate crimes against Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic as a marketing opportunity, the gun industry is now targeting the AAPI community as potential new gun buyers and future pro-gun advocates.
When attached to the barrel of a firearm, silencers reduce the amount of noise generated when the weapon is fired. In recent years, the gun industry has aggressively marketed silencers as a new potential profit center.
Fifty caliber sniper rifles are used by militaries around the world and can penetrate armor plating, down helicopters, and shoot down airplanes on take-off and landing yet can be purchased under federal law as easily as a single-shot hunting rifle.
Gunmakers regularly produce defective firearms, yet because of the industry’s unique lack of health and safety regulation, there is no federal agency that can require a gun manufacturer to recall defective guns or ammunition or warn consumers of any possible safety hazard.
Firearms are one of America’s most common consumer products. Yet, surprisingly little is known about the manufacturers of handguns, rifles, and shotguns in our nation. This page offers a collection of documents detailing the production of firearms in the United States.
Military-style weapons smuggled from the U.S. civilian market to Mexico help feed Cartel violence while threatening Mexican authorities and the civilian population.
This ongoing project details how military-style semiautomatic firearms available on the U.S. civilian gun market comprise a significant portion of the weapons illegally trafficked to Mexico and other Latin American and Caribbean countries.