GunTag Founding Story

Origin:

The GunTag origin story starts with an incident that happened while I was in college at the University of Georgia. 

My roommate and I were leaving our apartment, when we were confronted by three men in plain clothes standing outside our door. The men claimed to be undercover police officers. One man quickly flashed a badge, exposed his side arm, and poked his head into the apartment. The other, drew his trenchcoat to reveal a sawed off shotgun. Not exactly a police issued firearm.  

We quickly closed the door behind us and left. Recognizing this wasn’t standard police behavior we called 911. Officers arrived and informed us these men had committed numerous home invasions stealing anything of value including numerous firearms. 

Later that evening we noticed the car the three men were driving heading back towards our apartment. We called the police and within minutes the men were apprehended in front of our apartment. We could see the police had recovered a stock pile of firearms from their car.

We followed the case and learned one man received life in prison for murder, the victim killed with a stolen firearm. 

Idea:

Fast forward 20+ years later. I’ve spent my career helping companies grow from back of the napkin ideas to highly successful businesses as a product designer and co-founder. I now live in Atlanta Georgia. It’s an incredible city, however like most places it struggles with crime.  I have multiple firearms in my home, some for protection and others for the pure pleasure of range shooting.

It’s the spring of 2023 and I’m enjoying my morning coffee and I receive an all too common notification of crime in my area. Someone had broken into 20 cars in our neighborhood, numerous items were stolen including firearms. The article pointed to a frightening statistic that over 380,000 firearms are stolen every year from homes, cars, and gun store break-ins, resulting in a proliferation of stolen firearms being used in dangerous crimes. 

This brought back memories of my incident in Athens where home invasions and firearm theft eventually led to murder.

That same day, I received a pack of Apple AirTags. The plan was to put 2 in our bicycles for anti-theft purposes. This started me thinking, if I can use a tracking device like an AirTag or Tile sticker for lost/anti-theft purposes on a bike, why not a firearm? I felt there was an opportunity here, but I had two questions first:

1: Where could you discretely place and secure an AirTag or Tile on a handgun?

Answer: The universal accessory rail on most firearms offer the optimal location to attach a Bluetooth tracking case and secure it with a custom tamper proof security screw? 

2: Would law enforcement respond if an item were stolen and had an attached AirTag or Tile Sticker? 

Answer: Yes. Speaking with law enforcement, they explained that these devices have been a very effective tool for tracking down stolen goods. So much so that the Mayor of both NYC and DC have asked residents to put AirTags in their automobiles to help fight car theft.

Design:

I began researching all the available firearm accessories and spoke with a variety of firearms experts.  I sketched up numerous ideas and hired Ratio Labs in Atlanta Ga to help bring the concept to life.

At the core, GunTag products should be discrete, tactical, rugged, and most importantly, functional. Since the accessory rail is commonly used for tactical lights and laser sights, we equipped our GT-9, designed for standard sized pistols with a super bright LED light and all conditions green laser. We added to our line with the GT-7 and GT-4 designed for compact firearms and rifles. 

With physical prototypes in hand, multiple patents pending, and a URL purchased, GunTag was born.

At GunTag we believe in good design, quality craftsmanship, theft prevention, gun ownership, firearm safety, and the value of human life. 

If you purchased a GunTag product, we greatly appreciate your business. We are constantly looking for ways to improve our products, so don’t hesitate to contact us with any suggestions or comments. If you like our products, please leave us a review anywhere GunTag products are sold.

Thank you,
Troy Deus