US gunmaker touts Trump-themed ‘MAGA Patriot’ AR-15 assault rifles

Unlock the US Election Countdown newsletter for free

The stories that matter on money and politics in the race for the White House

A small Alabama gun maker is selling a Donald Trump-themed “MAGA Patriot” AR-15, the same model of assault rifle that was used to shoot the ex-president himself two months ago. 

The gun maker, PTC Armory of Eastaboga, Alabama is selling the first batch of 20 limited-edition military-style rifles for $2,997 each, according to its website.

The website features a photo of an AR-15, the standard style of rifle used by the US military, with a high-capacity magazine and the name TRUMP emblazoned into one side of the blued surface of the lower receiver, with the words “MAGA Patriot” etched into the other.

“Every rifle tested and GUARANTEED to shoot ‘sniper rifle’ accurate,” the website says of the gun. It warned customers on Monday that it had only four of the models left to sell.

“The MAGA Patriot AR-15 was designed to be THE AR-15 you reach for in the gun safe when your life or the lives of your loves ones are at stake and you need a rifle you can trust,” wrote PTC Armory’s founder Caleb Lee on the website.

The Maga-themed gun sale comes just over two months after an attempted assassination on Trump by Thomas Matthew Crooks, who used an AR-15-style rifle to open fire on the former president while he was speaking at a presidential campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The Republican presidential candidate’s ear was injured in the attack, which also killed one spectator at the rally. Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump used to have a concealed gun permit in New York City but can no longer own guns because he is a convicted felon. His opponent in this year’s White House race, Democratic vice-president Kamala Harris, has said she is a gun owner.

Lee did not respond to requests for comment. But his website described how his company’s firearms were handmade to customers’ specifications. Included in the purchase are two days of free firearms training at Patriot Training Center, his training school.

Prices for AR-15s range from as little as $399 on guns.com for a Plum Crazy AR by ET Arms to more than $3,500 for models with different specs. The US military favours the DD brand of rifle but it was also used at a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022.

The Patriot Training Center website explains that the Trump guns are test fired for semi-automatic and automatic fire before shipping to the customer.

The AR-15s that gun dealers sell to civilians are typically semi-automatic, shooting one round with each tug of the trigger. Fully automatic weapons, which fire a steady stream of rounds as the trigger is held down, are available to the military, law enforcement and civilians who successfully register them with the National Firearms Act.

President Joe Biden has sought to raise the bar on gun control, partly by requiring NFA approval for all AR-15s, including semi-automatics, but his efforts have been stymied by a gridlocked Congress.  

The AR stands for Armalite, the name of its original manufacturer, though the brand eventually went to Colt, and AR-15s are now produced by many different gunmakers.

They have become popular in the US because of their modular, user-friendly designs, which have also contributed to their use in multiple mass shootings.

In 2017 in Las Vegas, Stephen Paddock used multiple AR-15s to kill 58 people in the deadliest mass shooting in US history. He used bump stocks to speed up the rate of fire for the semi-automatic rifles.

Trump, whose re-election bid has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association, banned bump stocks while he was president, but the conservative Supreme Court struck down his ban in June.

Additional reporting by James Politi in Washington