Who owns Kahr Arms?
Browsing the Kahr Arms website, I noticed an advertisement (pictured below) that claimed Kahr was 100% American owned and operated. This surprised me because it is commonly accepted that the company is owned by the Unification Church of South Korea.
Wikipedia states that the company is owned by the Saeilo Corporation, which in turn is owned by the Tongil Group, a holding company founded by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon. On the Tongil Group’s website they have published an New York Times article, written by Choe Sang-Hun, which states that the church owns Kahr Arms …
The church owns the Washington Times newspaper and the New Yorker Hotel in Manhattan, as well as the New York-based gun manufacturer Kahr Arms.
Justin Moon, the son of Sun Myung Moon, became the CEO/President of Saeilo in 1992. Two years later the Kahr Arms division was formed to develop and produce the pistol design Justin had invented. In 2005 he became the chairman of the Tongil Group.
Back in 2001, Massad Ayoob interviewed Justin and asked him about the ownership of the company. Mr Moon said …
Ayoob: There is speculation on the Internet that your father or his church own your company Your response?
Moon: I currently am the majority shareholder of Kahr and operate my business to provide high quality firearms to the public and to make a profit.
A few years later Writer Christopher S. Stewart interviewed Justin Moon at SHOT Show and published a scathing article about him and the Unification Church. Stewart claimed that the company was owned by a network of church-owned shell companies …
Zilliox traced Kahr, one of more than a dozen Moon family companies in the U.S., through an intricate chain of firms to a mothership holding company called Unification Church International, which he says was formed to support and perpetuate the Unification movement. U.C.I. shares a building in Falls Church, Virginia, with its single subsidiary, One Up Enterprises, the central holding company of some of Reverend Moon’s most prominent and influential businesses. Among these are True World Group, a global seafood business run by Motoo Furuta, a church member; News World Communications, owner of U.P.I. and the Washington Times, led by Chung Hwan Kwak, another Moon follower; and Saeilo, which has offices in Japan and the United States, among other places. Saeilo lists Justin Moon as its C.E.O. and president.
I contacted Blue August, the PR agency that represents Kahr, to find out who owns the company. They contacted Frank Harris, VP Sales & Marketing of Kahr Arms. Frank said …
Kahr Arms was never owned by the Tongil Group.
It has always been owned by Justin Moon who is an American citizen. His father, Sun Myung Moon founded the Tongil Group sometime in the 1960s in Korea which may be where the confusion lies.
In a follow up email Frank said …
Here are the facts plain and simple for the guy from the Firearms Blog. You can give him this info below.
Unification Church does not own Kahr Arms – Kahr Arms is owned by Justin Moon who is an American citizen and has lived in America since he was four years old.
Personally I believe Frank Harris. The Tongil Group owns hundreds of companies all over the world so it seems absolutely plausible that Justin’s wealthy father would have give him ownership of Saeilo when he became the CEO. I think folks are always going to be suspicious and their suspicions will not be alleviated while the Tongil Group, chaired by Justin Moon, continues to publish an article claiming it owns Kahr!
I founded TFB in 2007 and over 10 years worked tirelessly, with the help of my team, to build it up into the largest gun blog online. I retired as Editor in Chief in 2017. During my decade at TFB I was fortunate to work with the most amazing talented writers and genuinely good people!
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He is a gun-lover like us! He could have made electric tools, a great new can opener, etc.. I have three Kahrs, each one no problems right out of the box, including the original all steel K9 (still my favorite). Put one in your hand, see if you don't get thrill up your leg!! Like it was made for YOU alone! Thanks Justin, you're on our side guy! If the "moonies" save vulnerable people from becoming liberal hippies, they're doing something right. If liberal Europe hates them, they're OK with me.
I purchased a Kahr CW9 about 4 months ago. I like the way it fit my hand and was small enough for ccw. After getting the gun I took it to the range. I had the mag fall out every third round, it was a defective mag release. Now for the Moonies who love the gun no mater what and apologize for it like a mother for her criminal son, I am left handed and I was not hitting the mag release. I received a new part from Kahr and this seemed to take care of that problem. My next trip to the range I had the recoil spring break. Disappointed at a month old gun and going through its break in [something I don't really agree with] period, I called Kahr. I got ahold of an English accented Customer service rep who said that Kahr never has problems and that I had to send the gun back at my cost [about 25 dollars] for them to take a look at it.
25 bucks so they could look at it for a 4 dollar spring. Kahr does not use a capture spring its just a plane old coil spring. You can buy replacements on line for about 8 bucks. I argued that this was ridiculous to spend three times what the part that needed to be replaced cost. The CS rep was rude and would not bend. I called a third time to try to get a new CS rep and got the same old stiff Ahole, this time he asked what ammo I had used, I said Federal and RAM. He got all happy and said that my warranty was now void because I used reloaded or re-manufactured ammo. RAM is a company that loads for many ranges. When I rent a gun at Bullseye in Wichita they make you use RAM ammo in any rental guns.
So now not only was Kahr being Aholes about a 4 dollar spring, they voided any future problems with my warranty. No I have owned and own a lot of guns, and have had problems with some of them, in the last year the plastic guide rod in my G19 cracked. I called Glock and they promptly sent out a new one even though I told them that my gun was a gen 2 from 95, [Kahr has lowered its warranty from life to 5 years and now it seems to me to nothing] I guess if you have a crap product this is what you have to do to keep from taking care of customers.
I also had a magazine problem with my M&P smith. Smith did not even want a serial number and only wanted my address to send me a new mag. Now that is service.
I have sold the POS Kahr and will never touch another, I bought a Glock 26 and have had nothing but good luck and I know if I do have a problem Glock will be there.
Again for the Kool Aid Kahr drinkers, I know that Glock and Smith don't like you to shoot reloads in their guns. Fine, but I asked both company's if it would void the warranty and was told that if it was determined that the damage to the gun was caused by improper ammo loads then it could, but it would not void the warranty say on a mag problem just because I used reloads.
Kahr seems to be using any excuse to just deny taking care of their POS products.
As a final note just before I sold my Kahr I filed a complaint with the BBB and just got a note back that Kahr has refused to communicate with them. LOL What a crap hole company.
I recommend that anyone wanting to buy this MOONIE gun buy something that the company will stand behind. Glock, Smith, Walther, Ruger to name a few. NO MOONIE GUNS FOR ME