Small gun manufacturers growing force in Florida

MELBOURNE — At FrogBones Family Shooting in Melbourne, you'll find rows of handguns, rifles and shooting accessories.

You'll also hear the constant “thud” of guns being fired in the indoor range.

Many probably would be surprised to know that FrogBones also is considered a gun “manufacturer,” meaning it has the same license as other gun makers like Kel-Tec in Cocoa, Knight's Armament in Titusville or I.O. Inc. in Palm Bay.

“It's 1⁄100th of a percent of our business,” said Doug Torpy, one of the founders of the 17-month-old FrogBones, a premier shooting range in Brevard County. “It's basically nothing. It just leaves me the option to manufacture if I want to.”

Florida has more “gun manufacturers” than any other state except Texas, after a surge of 346 percent in licenses for gun makers since 2009, fueled by the nation's growing demand for firearms.

That has created some concerns about the regulatory oversight of these businesses by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the federal law enforcement agency that monitors the nation's gun sales and distribution.

“Maybe we are on the edge of a point where the ATF will not be able to keep up anymore,” said former ATF special agent William Vizzard.

“Manufacturing” of guns can be a bit of a misnomer. It's not like Smith & Wesson moving its operations from Massachusetts to the Sunshine State.

Rather, it's dozens of smaller-sized operations, like FrogBones, that have licenses to put the pieces of weaponry together and sell the finished product as a gun if they chose to; or companies like Merritt Islandbased Twisted Industries Inc., that make components for gun manufacturers.

“This is a firearm,” Torpy said, holding up a black, palm-sized piece of metal that's actually the lower receiver of a AR-15 rifle.

“If I decide I want to turn this into a gun, attach the barrel and some other parts and sell it as a complete gun, that's manufacturing,” Torpy said.

In Florida, the number of firearm manufacturing licenses more than quadrupled from 155 in 2009 to 691 in May, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

In Brevard alone, there are 47 entities with gun manufacturing licenses, nearly triple the 16 licenses that were active in 2009. Among Florida's 67 counties, only Broward has more such licenses issues, at 48.

“Florida is a businessfriendly state that has had a good number of manufacturers involved in the firearms industry, as well as startups, for many years,” said Mike Bazinet, a spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a Washington, D.C.based advocate for the gun industry.

Gov. Rick Scott has promoted gun makers Colt Manufacturing Co. in Kissimmee and Azimuth Technology in Naples as examples of his success in attracting jobs.

The increase in gun manufacturing licenses since 2009 has strained the resources of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

As the number of licenses to make firearms grew nationally by 245 percent from 3,040 licenses in 2009 to 10,503 last year, the number of special agents watching manufacturers has increased only 30 percent, from 623 in 2009 to 811 in 2015.

The agency is outmatched, and that's a public danger when police departments across the country rely more frequently on the expertise of the ATF to respond to gun violence, Vizzard and another former ATF special agent contend.

Within 12 hours after gunman Omar Mateen fatally shot 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando in June, ATF special agents traced the Sig Sauer MCXstyle assault rifle and the Glock semiautomatic handgun he used to a St. Lucie County gun dealer.

But the spike in the number of gun makers in Florida and elsewhere piles more work on the agency and leaves many manufacturers unchecked for years by federal agents who try to ensure firearms are documented and made properly.

The situation is particularly critical in Florida, with the fast growth in firearm manufacturing licenses.

In 2004, the ATF determined to inspect all federal firearm license holders — that includes all dealers and manufacturers — every three to five years.

But a 2013 audit by the U.S. Department of Justice's inspector general found 58 percent of dealers and manufacturers didn't receive a visit from ATF special agents in a five-year period.

ATF spokesman Corey Ray said: “While additional resources could always assist in the fight against violent crime, ATF uses the staff and resources immediately on hand in the most effective and efficient ways possible.”