The Violence Policy Center is nearly a do-nothing group in 2024. Maybe once upon a time they had more clout, but today, they put up the veneer of #doingsomething. In one of their recent mailings they included all kinds of pompous and self-righteous claims. The message asks the question, “How well do you know your neighbors?” Setting the stage for a bunch of bovine excrement, they then give us a pretty cool tool.

I suggest you cue in suspenseful music and read the following slowly, insert the clap of thunder where necessary.

Did you know that you might be living next to a federally licensed gun manufacturer and not even know it?

This startling fact comes from our latest study, America's Hidden Gun Manufacturers.

Under federal law, gun manufacturers must obtain a federal license (known as a Type 07). Yet most of these license holders don't operate from factories, but from ordinary homes and offices, often without producing a single firearm. They obtain the license because it exempts them from many of the restrictions faced by private citizens when purchasing a firearm — like waiting periods and background checks — and allows them to buy guns in quantity and at wholesale prices.

Talk about Chicken Little! We have to really applaud the efforts here. I mean, they are trying, and that has to count for something, no? To think, a dealer that does not even produce a single firearm! How crazy? You’d think that a group hellbent on seeing the complete repeal of the Second Amendment would be happy that some gun dealers with manufacturer's licenses “often” don’t produce “a single firearm.”

What a bunch of jackwagons. Then the group chastises people for getting a license that exempts them from “many of the restrictions” that the general public has to deal with. Sugarmann never goes on to explain that to get said licenses the federal government shoves a microscope up your posterior to make sure you have a squeaky clean criminal background.

It’s just ironic that groups that want licenses and paperwork for the average gun owner to exercise their right in any manner are all of a sudden against a license. 

This just proves that no matter where the bar is set, the anti-gun cabal will never be happy. They’ll always come after the law-abiding gun owner, even those who jump through the hoops to get difficult to obtain licenses.

The most laughable part of the email is how Sugarmann states these dealers are “often” operating with no oversight. ATF crawling up the posteriors of any FFL holder during audits constitutes “little oversight.” Nevermind the paperwork and all the other garbage FFLs have to deal with, let’s also put out there these are people who are putting the lives of their dogs in peril!

“No one really knows what they're doing. And that's a major public safety concern — and one that we're addressing through our ongoing Campaign for Gun Industry Accountability,” stated the message. End suspenseful music and I’ll add, who the hell cares what a law-abiding dealer is doing as long as they remain law-abiding.

We’re living in a United States where the home-manufacture of firearms is under attack. The anti-gunners scream from the rooftops that there needs to be a background check and all the other mumbo-jumbo. Then in the next breath they complain that people actually are getting licensed – background checked – to deal in and build firearms. I have a few words from the Garden State that I’d love to say, but we’ll settle on “fuggetaboutit.”

Where things get spicy though is at the very bottom of the message. After they ask for money a bunch of times, of course, cause ya know Sugarmanns gotta get a sugar daddy, they leave us with a post post scriptum.

P.P.S. If you're concerned after reading this email, you aren't alone. That's why we've built a new online tool where you can check for hidden gun manufacturers near you. Check it out here.

I followed the link. First, my VPN told me that the site is suspicious and potentially malicious. I agree that there’s some malicious people behind it. After telling the malware monitor to “stand down,” I ended up on a page with more rhetoric about how awful it is if you had a neighbor that was a law-abiding gun dealer and all that jazz.

After trudging through that garbage, there’s a tool that allows you to put in a zip code or address, etc. The tool then spits out all the FFLs, including gunsmiths,  in that area! The best part about it is they are updating the map quarterly.

Now, it's hard to know if Sugarmann is going to benefit from clicks. That is, are his analytics going to be able to help him secure more money? I don’t know. But what I do know is he’s given us an awesome tool to use to find dealers easily in a respective area.

I wonder what crime density would look like overlaid on the maps that are generated on the site?

VPC has done little recently and this site illustrates that. It’s a stretch to connect the dots that it’s problematic to have licensed dealers. In the process of trying to expose these rogue manufacturers or dealers that “No one really knows what they're doing,” VPC has unwittingly given me a tool I’ll be using to get to know my local dealers.