History
From the age of 14, Justin Moon enjoyed shooting guns. At age 18, Moon got a license to carry a handgun, co-signed by one of his older brothers, but he wasn't satisfied with the small calibers available in compact handguns. "I had been licensed to carry in New York State since I was 18 and had looked for an ultra-compact 9mm pistol," Justin later told American Handgunner. "To my chagrin, I could not find a pistol with the quality of construction and features in design which I felt were appropriate for a carry gun. Therefore, I decided to design an ultra-compact 9-mm. pistol that I could carry." By his junior year of college, he decided to design one himself.
In 1999, Kahr Arms bought Auto-Ordnance Company, not associated with the original AOC, maker of Thompson submachine guns, then owned and operated by Numrich Arms who had bought the crated assets of Auto-Ordnance started by General John T. Thompson and his investors. Now Kahr manufactures Auto-Ordnance's line of semi-automatic weapons, including a long-barreled rifle version of the famous "Tommy Gun."
Kahr offers its line of compact pistols at a time of significant liberalization of concealed weapons laws in many U.S. states. Since the 1990s, many states have passed "shall-issue" laws, as promoted by the American National Rifle Association and other gun rights organizations. Such laws mandate that state authorities must issue permits to carry concealed weapons to all law-abiding applicants who met certain conditions set forth by state law, including passing a comprehensive background check.
In 1994 the U.S. government banned manufacture and importation of pistol magazines with more than a 10-round capacity. These were the so-called "high-capacity" magazines, which again became legal to manufacture and import in most states in September 2004, after the relevant federal law expired. This change in federal law rendered many staggered-magazine pistol models (commonly with magazine capacities of 15 or more rounds) less popular in the American market. They were now overly large in light of their newly mandated 10-shot limit. Kahr was at the forefront, offering relatively small, well-made pistols with magazine capacities of up to eight rounds of 9mm or .40-caliber ammunition. These single-stack magazines allow for slender, compact pistols that have proven popular with the buying public.
Since late 2003 or very early in 2004, Kahr has changed from offering a Limited Lifetime Warranty on their pistols to one of only five years' duration. In 2003 the New York Daily News reported that the Kahr K9 was popular as a back-up weapon with New York City police officers, who called it the "Moonie gun".
In June 2010, Kahr bought Magnum Research, which markets the Desert Eagle.
Read more about this topic: Kahr Arms
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