Since January, Donald Trump Jr. and investment firm 1789 Capital have been preparing to launch an initial public offering (IPO) for online firearm retailer GrabAGun. On March 26, 2025, Trump Jr. was named as a prospective board member for GrabAGun alongside the company’s current executive team and a handful of prominent gun industry figures.
According to an investor presentation recently filed with the SEC, the company’s proposed board includes Chris Cox, the former head lobbyist for the National Rifle Association (NRA), gun rights influencer and former NRA commentator Colion Noir, investor and former Republican Senate and congressional candidate Blake Masters, and Dusty Wunderlich, a fintech entrepreneur behind “shoot now, pay later” services for gun retailers.
Chris Cox
According to the investor slide deck, Cox was nominated to serve on GrabAGun’s board because of his “extensive experience leading the NRA and as a lobbyist and public relations consultant in the legislative field for gun rights and public affairs.”
Cox served as the executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) from April 2002 to June 2019. He is credited with lobbying Congress to allow the federal assault weapons ban to expire in 2004 and enact the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) in 2005, which has provided broad legal protections to the gun industry. Since it was enacted, not a single gun maker accused of negligence has gone to trial.
Cox’s tenure ended when NRA officials accused him of participating in an extortion “conspiracy” to oust the NRA’s former leader, Wayne LaPierre, from the organization. Cox denied the allegations. After his departure from the NRA, Cox launched a consulting and lobbying firm, Capitol 6 Advisors.
colion noir
The GrabAGun slide deck notes that Noir, a former NRA commentator, guntuber, and brand ambassador whose real name is Collins Idehen, was nominated for the board because he’s an “established voice in the discourse on gun rights and constitutional freedoms.” In his videos, Noir regularly rails against commonsense gun safety measures, and has mocked the survivors of the Parkland mass shooting. The perpetrator of the Buffalo mass shooting watched Noir’s videos, as discussed here.
Blake masters
Another prospective GrabAGun director is Blake Masters, who served as the president of the Thiel Foundation and chief operating officer of Thiel Capital. He also ran for election to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives in 2022 and 2024, respectively, but lost both campaigns. However, Masters’ stance on guns earned him “A” ratings from the NRA and Gun Owners of America, and donations from the National Shooting Sports Foundation. He was also reportedly considered as a candidate to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives at the beginning of Trump’s second term.
Masters has supported “[e]liminating or restructuring the ATF” and called the National Firearms Act, which regulates machine guns, silencers, and short-barreled firearms, “stupid and unconstitutional.” In a 2022 campaign video, Masters held a Honey Badger AR-15 equipped with a silencer and said, “This is a short-barreled rifle. It wasn’t designed for hunting. This is designed to kill people. But if you’re not a bad guy, I support your right to own one.” Earlier that year, he also said, “We do have a gun violence problem in this country, and it’s gang violence. It’s gangs. It’s people in Chicago, St. Louis shooting each other. Very often, you know, Black people, frankly. And the Democrats don’t want to do anything about that.”
dusty wunderlich
Wunderlich served as the CEO of Credova from September 2020 to March 2024, a company that offers “buy now, pay later” financing for online retailers, including those that sell firearms. GrabAGun was an early adopter, nicknaming Credova’s services as “shoot now, pay later” financing.
In 2022, members of Congress penned a letter to Wunderlich expressing concerns about Credova’s “point-of-sale loan” for firearms. They noted that nearly 70 gun retailers had partnered with Credova at the time, promising that customers could be approved “in seconds” with “$0 down.” More importantly, the representatives worried that the “shoot now, pay later” financing could aid those who intend to commit mass shootings but lack the funds to buy a firearm to carry out an attack.
The lawmakers asked what safeguards Credova puts into place to prevent the service from being abused by prohibited buyers. In response, Credova’s general counsel said the company has “a strict policy to work only with licensed [gun] dealers,” and that the buyer must have passed a background check.
GRABAGUN TARGETS gen z and millenials
The GrabAGun investor slide deck notes that the gun industry “has been stymied by ‘woke’ capital constraints” and “cannot reach target customers due to advertising bans and cancellation by legacy media and big tech.” GrabAGun’s solution is to become a “mobile-focused firearms retail platform for the next generation of buyers,” which the company identifies as Millennials and Gen Z.
According to GrabAGun, “Millennials and Gen Z (18-44) are now shaping the future of firearms retail,” and the retailer has “tailored” its “mobile-friendly” interface for this audience in particular. The company believes that “people should be able to use their computers, phones, and tablets to shop for firearms the same way they purchase everything else.” In a recent interview, GrabAGun CEO Marc Nemati further emphasized the company’s focus on young consumers, and the company’s investment in the “mobile experience” to appeal to them.
GrabAGun has also partnered with major gun makers like Glock, Ruger, Sig Sauer, and Smith & Wesson.
GrabAGun will go public through a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) — Colombier Acquisition Corp II — which will merge with GrabAGun. Unlike a traditional IPO, where a third party appraises an existing company ahead of issuing shares, investors must rely on the SPAC sponsors for information. Critics of these offerings say a SPAC’s success often depends on how well the sponsors promote the company, which is why they often resort to recruiting high-profile figures like celebrities and politicians. GrabAGun’s prospective board members have repeatedly promoted the company on their social media accounts.
The SPAC sponsors say GrabAGun, which reported $93.1 million in annual revenue, has a pro forma valuation of $194.5 million. GrabAGun plans to merge with the SPAC by July 2025. According to an SEC filing, after Colombier Acquisition Corp II acquires GrabAGun, the company intends to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the proposed symbols “PEW” and “PEWW.”