Daniel Defense is an American

arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

manufacturer founded in 2002 by Marty Daniel in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...

. Following substantial growth from a 2002

U.S. Army Special Forces The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force of the United States Army. The Green Berets are geared towards nine doctrinal m ...

grant for M4 upper receivers, Daniel Defense expanded in 2009 and moved into a new manufacturing facility in Black Creek, Georgia, where it is now based. The company's flagship gun is the DDM41 AR15-style rifle, which it sells in automatic form to the military and in semi-automatic form to civilians. Firearms sold by Daniel Defense have been used to carry out mass shootings, including the

2017 Las Vegas shooting On October 1, 2017, Stephen Paddock, a 64-year-old man from Mesquite, Nevada, opened fire on the crowd attending the Route 91 Harvest music festival on the Las Vegas Strip in . From his 32nd-floor suites in the Mandalay Bay hotel, he fired ...

and the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting.David Yaffe-Bellany and Jessica Silver-Greenberg (May 28, 2022)
"Gun in Texas Shooting Came From Company Known for Pushing Boundaries"
''The New York Times''.

History and products

Daniel Defense began as a hobby of its founder, Marty Daniel.Susan Adams (February 6, 2017)
"A Gun Maker Reveals What Trump's Presidency Means For His Business"
''Forbes''. Its year of establishment is variously reported as 2000,Drew Favakeh & Raisa Habersham
Gun used in Texas school shooting made by Bryan County's Daniel Defense
''Savannah Morning News'' (May 27, 2022). 2001, or 2002.Will Yakowicz (August 22, 2014)

''Inc.'' Daniel's wife, Cindy Daniel, is

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...

of the company. Both Daniels are outspoken supporters of

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

and other

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

candidates. The company adopted a

direct-to-consumer Direct-to-consumer (DTC) or business-to-consumer (B2C) is the business model of selling products directly to customers and thereby bypassing any third-party retailers, wholesalers, or any other middlemen. Direct-to-consumer sales are usually tr ...

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...

sales model and offered " buy-now-pay-later" plans, allow consumers to acquire costly weapons immediately and pay in installments over time. Daniel Defense is among the largest

privately held A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...

manufacturers of firearms and firearm accessories in the US, and by 2014 it had been named to the ''Inc.'' 5000, a list of fast-growing privately held U.S. companies, three times. However, the company is small relative to other gun manufacturers like

Colt Colt(s) or COLT may refer to: *Colt (horse), an intact (uncastrated) male horse under four years of age People * Colt (given name) *Colt (surname) Places *Colt, Arkansas, United States *Colt, Louisiana, an unincorporated community, United States ...

and

Smith & Wesson Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. (S&W) is an American firearm manufacturer headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States. Smith & Wesson was founded by Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson as the "Smith & Wesson Revolver Company" in 1856 ...

. In its early years, Daniel Defense manufactured

rails Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' ( ...

, the components of firearms to which scopes,

laser sights Many scientific, military, medical and commercial laser applications have been developed since the invention of the laser in 1958. The coherency, high monochromaticity, and ability to reach extremely high powers are all properties which allow ...

, and other accessories are attached. The company dramatically expanded in 2003, after winning a $20 million

U.S. Special Forces The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service Berets of the United States Army, headgear, are a special operations special operations force, force of the United States Ar ...

contract for specialized rails for M4 rifles. In 2009, the company began manufacturing its own rifles and cold hammer forged

barrels A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, u ...

. The company produced 24 guns in 2009 and 10,000 guns in 2010.Adam Van Brimmer (August 24, 2012)
"Daniel Defense taking cautious approach to growth"
''Savannah Morning News''. The company manufactured slightly fewer than 53,000 guns in 2020, with less than 1% of U.S. firearms

market share Market share is the percentage of the total revenue or sales in a market that a company's business makes up. For example, if there are 50,000 units sold per year in a given industry, a company whose sales were 5,000 of those units would have a ...

. The company's flagship product is the Daniel Defense DDM4

AR-15 style rifle An AR-15-style rifle is any lightweight semi-automatic rifle based on the Colt AR-15 design. The original ArmaLite AR-15 is a scaled-down derivative of Eugene Stoner's ArmaLite AR-10 design. The then Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation d ...

. The company sells the DDM4 to the

U.S. Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secur ...

, foreign militaries, and civilians; the rifle is sold in automatic form to military and police, and in semi-automatic form to civilians. In 2014, Daniel Defense sold DDM4 to Missouri State Police and

North Dakota Highway Patrol The North Dakota Highway Patrol is the highway patrol agency for North Dakota and has jurisdiction anywhere within the state. It is a division of the North Dakota State Cabinet. Colonel Brandon Solberg has been serving as the 17th superintendent s ...

, making its first sale of that gun to law enforcement agencies. Daniel Defense also manufactures the barrel and gas block for USSOCOM's Upper Receiver Group-Improved (URG-I). According to ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' magazine, in 2016 Daniel Defense had sales of $73 million and 279 employees. Marty Daniel stated in 2016 that 90% of the company's sales were to consumers, and 10% were to governments. The company initially was located in

Garden City, Georgia Garden City is a city in Chatham County, Georgia, United States, located just northwest of Savannah. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 10,289. Part industrial and part residential, the city is home to much of the heavy industry ...

, sharing space with Daniel's other business making overhead doors and fireplaces. In 2008, the company outgrew the space and moved to Black Creek, Georgia, where it is now based. The company opened a 90,000-square-foot facility in

Ridgeland, South Carolina Ridgeland is a town in Jasper and Beaufort counties, South Carolina, United States. The population was 3,749 at the 2020 census, a 7.1% decrease from 2010. It has been the county seat of Jasper County since the county's formation in 1912. As defin ...

in 2012, but announced the closure of that facility in 2016. In late 2017, construction of a new $29 million, 300,000 square foot building for the company was completed in Black Creek, consolidating the company's previous locations in Black Creek and Ridgeland.Jamie Parker
Daniel Defense officially opens new facility
''Savannah Morning News'' (May 17, 2018). The formal ribbon-cutting for the new Black Creek facility which employs 210 people, held in May 2018, was attended by Georgia's governor,

Nathan Deal John Nathan Deal (born August 25, 1942) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 82nd governor of Georgia from 2011 to 2019. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a member of the Democratic Party in 1992 a ...

, and other state and local officials. The

National Rifle Association of America The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent gun rights lobbying organization while cont ...

selected the Daniel Defense V7 as the 2017 gun of the year. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the company accepted a $3.1 million loan from the federal

Paycheck Protection Program The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is a $953-billion business loan program established by the United States federal government during the Donald Trump administration in 2020 through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES A ...

Advertising controversies

Daniel Defense is known for its provocative

online advertisement Online advertising, also known as online marketing, Internet advertising, digital advertising or web advertising, is a form of marketing and advertising which uses the Internet to promote products and services to audiences and platform users. ...

s. Some of the company's advertisements use pop-culture references or characters that appeal to youth, including references to the ''

Call of Duty ''Call of Duty'' is a first-person shooter video game Media franchise, franchise published by Activision. Starting out in 2003, it first focused on games set in World War II. Over time, the series has seen games set in the midst of the Cold W ...

'' series of video games, to ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

'' characters, and to

Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...

. Daniel, the company's founder and CEO, has positioned himself as a provocateur, mocking gun control measures and engaging in

publicity stunt In marketing, a publicity stunt is a planned event designed to attract the public's attention to the event's organizers or their cause. Publicity stunts can be professionally organized, or set up by amateurs. Such events are frequently utilize ...

s to promote the company's products. Ryan Busse, a former executive at gun company Kimber who later became a critic of the gun industry, called Daniel Defense "basically the poster child" of "egregious, aggressive marketing" by gun sellers.

Everytown for Gun Safety Everytown for Gun Safety is an American nonprofit organization which advocates for gun control and against gun violence. Everytown was created in 2013 when Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America joined force ...

has also criticized Daniel Defense's advertisements for glorifying "violence and war" in marketing.

Super Bowl ad controversy

In December 2013, Daniel Defense was involved in controversy when it submitted a

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

to a group of

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

affiliates for broadcast during local commercial time in the network's broadcast of

Super Bowl XLVIII Super Bowl XLVIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos and National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for th ...

. The stations rejected it, citing the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

's commercial policy which states: "Firearms, ammunition or other weapons are prohibited; however, stores that sell firearms and ammunition will be permitted, provided they sell other products and the ads do not mention firearms, ammunition or other weapons." Daniel Defense responded to the rejection by criticizing the NFL's policy and the decision of those Fox affiliates, asserting that its ad did not contain any firearms and focused instead on the company's surrounding outdoor merchandise, falling within the exceptions in the policy. The NFL responded to the claims by denying any involvement in the rejection of the advertisement, but it did confirm that its policy does ban commercials with firearms in them, and in the end, it was not accepted or aired.

Relation to mass shootings

2017 Las Vegas shooting

The arsenal of the 64-year-old perpetrator of

included two Daniel Defense

s. He killed 60 people and wounded 411, making it the deadliest mass shooting in US history.

Robb Elementary School shooting

On May 24, 2022, at

Robb Elementary School shooting On May 24, 2022, a mass shooting occurred at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, United States, where 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, a former student at the school, fatally shot nineteen students and two teachers, and wounded seventeen other ...

Uvalde, Texas Uvalde is a city and the county seat of Uvalde County, Texas, United States. The population was 15,217 at the 2020 census. Uvalde is located in the Texas Hill Country, west of downtown San Antonio and east of the Mexico–United States bord ...

, a Daniel Defense DDM4 V7, an AR-15 style rifle was used by the shooter who fatally shot nineteen students and two teachers, and wounded seventeen others. The gun was located near the body of the perpetrator. Daniel Defense was met with social media backlash in the wake of the shooting, including criticism for a now-deleted

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

post made on May 16 depicting a child holding a Daniel Defense rifle. The manufacturer withdrew from the annual NRA convention held in Houston a few days after the shooting, stating that they believed it wasn't an appropriate time to be promoting their products due to the "horrifying tragedy in Uvalde" where "one of

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...

products was criminally misused". On June 3, 2022, the attorney representing the father of one of the victims requested information from Daniel Defense about their marketing strategy to teens and children. A separate legal action from a school employee also filed a request with the Texas court requesting the same information. This was because the assailant legally purchased fire arms the day after his 18th birthday on May 17, 2022.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Daniel Defense Firearm manufacturers of the United States Bryan County, Georgia American companies established in 2002 2002 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Manufacturing companies based in Georgia (U.S. state)