founded 1995 headquarters greeley pa key people kook jin justin moon ceo president website kahr.com kahr mk9 kahr cm9 subcompact 9 19mm kahr arms is an american small arms manufacturer founded by kook jin justin moon son of unification church founder sun myung moon who currently serves as ceo and president . 1 2 it is currently under the kahr firearms group a usa based firearms manufacturer which includes kahr arms thompson auto ordnance and magnum research . the company specializes in compact and mid size semi automatic pistols chambered for popular cartridges including .380 acp 9mm luger .40 s & w and .45 acp . kahr pistols feature polymer or stainless steel frames single stack magazines and double action only striker firing actions . the kahr firearms group company headquarters is in greeley pennsylvania and the kahr manufacturing facility is located in worcester massachusetts . contents 1 history 2 kahr design 3 pistols 4 references 5 external links history edit from the age of 14 justin moon enjoyed shooting guns . 3 at age 18 moon got a license to carry a handgun co signed by one of his older brothers but he was not 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 . 4 by his junior year of college he decided to design one himself . 3 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 . 5 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 . 6 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 . 7 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 . 4 in june 2010 kahr bought magnum research which markets the desert eagle . 8 on july 1 2013 the kahr arms company announced that it was leaving new york state because of the secure ammunition and firearms enforcement act . kahr has purchased 620 acres in pike county pennsylvania and will move its corporate staff after building offices in 2014 needs update with plans to build a new factory by 2019 . 9 during the shot show in january 2015 the kahr arms company changed its name to the kahr firearms group . kahr arms is currently under the kahr firearms group as a private firearms manufacturer alongside magnum research and auto ordnance . kahr design edit the kahr cm9 field strip for routine cleaning the kahr action is a browning locked breech design featuring a striker operated firing pin with a passive firing pin safety making it a true hammerless action . 10 11 when the trigger is pulled the trigger bar begins to rotate a double lobed cocking cam . this cam simultaneously begins to draw the striker to the rear compressing the spring behind it while depressing and deactivating the firing pin block . at the end of the trigger s travel the lobe contacting the striker slips off the striker and releases it ; the other lobe has by this point completely depressed the firing pin block and permitted the striker to snap forward and strike the primer . this single piece takes the place of more complicated and fragile designs employed in other pistols . it is similar in principle though very different in execution to the action design of glocks . it also allows the firing pin block to be located further to the rear of the slide and therefore further from possible contamination by combustion gases and powder fouling . for this innovation justin moon was awarded one of the five patents he owns on the kahr pistol design . this system is employed on all kahr pistols regardless of frame material size or caliber . kahr s trigger is similar to a double action revolver with a short 3 8 inch trigger travel . 12 on polymer framed models the slide travels on steel inserts that are permanently set into the polymer frame . there are also polymer rails which are not structurally functional but aid in keeping out dirt and with aligning the slide when reassembling the slide onto the polymer frame . in steel framed versions the rail design is traditional and very similar to that of the m1911 pistol . kahr pistols have their feed ramps offset to the left which allows the trigger draw bar to lie flatter against the right side of the frame . this feature helps the kahr pistol line to achieve a slide width of .90 of an inch in 9mm and .40 s & w models and 1.01 inches when chambered in .45 acp narrower than many popular pistols . 13 the initial kahr offering the k9 provided a full power 9mm parabellum pistol that was virtually the same size and in some dimensions smaller as widely accepted pocket pistol .380 acp and .32 acp handguns such as the walther pp and ppk s as well as the sig sauer p230 232 and the beretta 80 series . 14 kahr offers a line of economy pistols which are identical to the p series of pistols except that some luxury features are eliminated to cut costs . the polymer frame cw economy models have fewer machining operations pinned in front sights rather than dovetail traditional rifling rather than polygonal rifling rolled on lettering rather than engraved and come with only one magazine . cw pistols generally retail for approximately 20 30 % less than the full featured p series . the e series is a discontinued line of kahr economy pistols with stainless frame ; the e series was discontinued in 2004 . 15 pistols edit kahr currently manufactures and distributes the following semi automatic pistols kahr cm series cm9 cm40 cm45 kahr cw series cw380 cw9 cw40 cw45 kahr k series k9 k40 kahr mk series mk9 mk40 kahr tp series tp9 tp40 tp45 kahr t series t9 t40 kahr p series p380 p9 p40 p45 kahr pm series pm9 pm40 pm45 references edit kim hyung eun april 12 2010 . business engine of a global faith . joong ang daily . retrieved january 10 2012 . sang hun choe october 14 2009 . at time of change for rev. moon church a return to tradition . the new york times . a b ayoob massad . the rise of the house of kahr . american handgunner . 25 6 58 67 . a b rev. moon son made a gun . new york daily news . july 27 2003 . lewis jack 2007 . revival of the thompson . gun digest book of assault weapons 7th edition 7 ed . . iola wisconsin gun digest books . p. 196 . isbn 978 1 4402 2652 6 . retrieved july 31 2013 . mintz john march 10 1999 . church s pistol firm exploits a niche . the washington post . retrieved september 22 2007 . october 2003 front page of kahr.com . wayback machine . black sam june 22 2010 . owners unload gunmaker magnum research to kahr arms . minneapolis st. paul business journal . kahr firearms group plans major expansion in pennsylvania press release . pearl river ny kahr arms . july 1 2013 . retrieved november 11 2013 . ayoob massad september 28 2007 . the gun digest book of combat handgunnery . iola wisconsin gun digest books . p. 202 . isbn 1 4402 2654 7 . hogg ian ; walter john august 29 2004 . pistols of the world . london david & charles . p. 188 . isbn 0 87349 460 1 . engel tara dixon 2002 . women and guns . new jersey little river press . pp. 38 39 . isbn 978 076034853 6 . kahr perfect pocket pistols . retrieved september 22 2007 . rementer stephen r. ; eimer bruce n. 2005 . essential guide to handguns firearm instruction for personal defense and protection . looseleaf law publications . p. 299 . isbn 978 1 889031 65 1 . lee jerry august 12 2015 . gun digest 2016 . iola wisconsin f w media inc. . p. 399 . isbn 978 1 4402 4430 8 . external links edit kahr homepage retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title kahr arms & oldid 744455773 categories firearm manufacturers of the united statescompanies based in pike county pennsylvaniaamerican companies established in 1995firearms manufacturers in pennsylvania1995 establishments in new yorkmanufacturing companies established in 1995privately held companies based in pennsylvaniahidden categories use mdy dates from october 2016wikipedia articles in need of updating from october 2016all wikipedia articles in need of updating navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages edit links this page was last modified on 15 october 2016 at 09 44 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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