AR-15 Manufacturer Named 'Manufacturer of the Year'

AR-15 manufacturer and accessory designer Daniel Defense (DD) has been named “Manufacturer of the Year” by BusinessInSavannah.com (BIS). DD manufactures custom AR-15s and DAR-15 accessories.

According to BIS, DD sold 32,000 guns in 2013, and company founder Marty Daniel is working to increase that number on a per-year basis. 

Daniel is a southern Georgia native who got his start in 2001 by making “a couple of parts for…guns” that he wanted but nobody made. After he made them, others began to ask him if they could purchase the parts. In 2002, he “began making assault rifle rail systems” and landed a “defense contract with the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit at Fort Benning.”

A year later, he won “a contract with U.S. Special Operations Command” and then “a contract with the U.K. Ministry of Defense.”

In 2009, Daniel decided to “manufacture complete guns” and has since become a force to be reckoned with among AR-15 manufacturers. 

As Breibart News reported on November 27, Daniel Defense was thrust beyond AR-15 sales and into cultural debates when they submitted a commercial to the NFL for the 2014 Super Bowl and were rejected because they were a firearm manufacturer. Ironically, the commercial did not even mention firearms. Rather, it was about taking responsibility for the safety of one’s own family. 

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins