Stag Arms Pleads Guilty To Federal Firearms Violations

Connecticut-based Stag Arms, LLC, and the company’s owner and founder, Mark Malkowski, have both pled guilty in federal court to violating federal firearms law. The charges—that Stag Arms was in possession of 62 machine guns and machine gun receivers that were either registered to a different entity or weren’t registered at all—stem from a 2014 compliance inspection by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

As agreed to in a plea deal, Malkowski will pay the government a $100,000 fine, and has agreed to sell the business and to have no further ownership or management role in any gun manufacturer in the future.

Meanwhile, Stag Arms has agreed to pay a fine of $500,000, and its federal license will be renewed temporarily so the company can operate until a new owner purchases the company. Malkowski is in advanced negotiations to sell the company, and the eventual buyer would then be able to apply for a new license.

While both Stag Arms and Malkowski believe that public safety was never compromised, they have agreed to enter guilty pleas and to pay significant fines, because doing so is in the best interests of the company and its 100 or so employees.