Polymer80 received press attention for the frequent use of its products in crimes involving so-called "ghost guns", which in specific cases resulted in lawsuits being brought against the company.

[6][7][8] To assist the home building of private made firearms, unfinished receiver companies would usually sell kits that included drill bits, stencils, or jigs.

[8] In the 2010s, companies like Polymer80 began to sell unfinished frames and receivers that, because they were made from polymer, could be completed with the simplest hand tools.

[19][33] The company sought to intervene in a lawsuit brought forth by the state and parents of the victims in the 2019 Saugus High School shooting against the Department of Justice for their failure to classify receiver blanks like the type Polymer80 sells as firearms under federal law.

[35] In June 2021, two Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies injured in a shooting by a felon using a Polymer80 handgun sued the company for "negligently and unlawfully [selling] an untraceable home-assembled gun kit that resulted in the September attack in Compton.

[38][37][39] On May 21, 2021, the Nevada Legislature passed Assembly Bill 286 to prohibit the sale of privately made firearms and the receiver blanks used to make them.

[42] The city of Baltimore filed a lawsuit against the company for making worse a "public health crisis" of violence associated with the use of privately made firearms.

[45][46] On July 5, 2023, the city of Philadelphia filed a lawsuit against Polymer80 and another receiver blank supplier following a mass shooting two days prior that left five people dead.