Daniel Defense, the company that made the rifle a gunman used to kill 21 people in a Texas elementary school this week, was one of hundreds of gun manufacturers and dealers who received emergency aid from the federal government through the Paycheck Protection Program.
The company, based in Ellabell, Georgia, received a $3.1 million loan in early April 2020 — just days after the emergency fund opened, as many companies struggled to break through a mass of applications as the pandemic began.
The loan, provided by Cadence Bank, was used to support some 200 employees, according to government data. Daniel Defense met the program’s requirements to get the loan forgiven, and it was paid off by the government in June 2021.
A Daniel Defense rifle was used Tuesday in the attack on Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, according to a state police briefing received by Senator John Whitmire of Houston. Nineteen children and two adults were killed at the school, and several other children were injured. The 18-year-old gunman also injured his grandmother before attacking the school.
“We are deeply saddened by the tragic events in Texas this week,” the company wrote in a statement on its website. “We will cooperate with all federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in their investigations.”
Company representatives did not immediately respond to questions about the Paycheck Protection Program loan. The Small Business Administration, which oversaw the program, declined to comment, citing the agency’s policy “which includes multiple previous administrations” of not commenting on individual borrowers.
Asked about the loan at the White House press conference on Thursday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said it was the first she heard about the loan and would look into it.
Virtually every small business in America — generally defined by the government as businesses with fewer than 500 employees — qualified for help through the Paycheck Protection Program, requiring applicants simply to confirm that the “economic uncertainty” caused by the pandemic has made it easier for them. made it necessary to seek help from the national fund.
Daniel Defense is a privately held company, so it doesn’t report its sales publicly, but government data shows that after the pandemic broke out, it made significantly more weapons in 2020, compared to a year earlier. The company made more than 51,000 firearms in 2020 and less than 32,000 in 2019, according to data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Nearly 500 arms and ammunition makers and retailers received federal aid through the $800 billion emergency aid program. According to an analysis of government data by the New York Times, the industry collectively took out loans totaling $125 million.
Twenty-three manufacturers, including Daniel Defense, received loans of $1 million or more. The largest, at $10 million — the maximum loan available through the emergency fund — went to RemArms, a Georgia company that acquired assets and a manufacturing facility from Remington after it filed for bankruptcy.
