American airgun manufacturer Daisy was initially established in 1882 in Plymouth, Michigan, by watchmaker and inventor Clarence Hamilton as the Plymouth Iron Windmill Company. The company made steel windmills, and in 1888, they began bundling BB-caliber air guns with each windmill purchase as a sales promotion.
As their BB Guns grew in popularity, they changed their name to Daisy Manufacturing Company in 1895 and switched their business to solely producing air guns for sale.
Their best-known product is their Red Ryder BB Gun – named for the comic strip cowboy character “Red Ryder” (created in 1938) and resembling the Winchester rifle of Western movies – which has been featured in many TV shows and movies since its introduction in the spring of 1940.
Daisy was the defendant in a lawsuit after a Pennsylvania teenager, John Tucker Mahoney, was accidentally shot in the head in May 1999 when a friend fired one of their BB guns at him, believing it to be empty.
This left him severely brain-damaged and in a near vegetative state later on.
The lawsuit alleged that the company hid manufacturing defects, specifically the BB guns jamming. The company settled the lawsuit with Mahoney’s family for $18 million in a case that received worldwide publicity.
Mahoney died of his injuries in October 2003.
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As their BB Guns grew in popularity, they changed their name to Daisy Manufacturing Company in 1895 and switched their business to solely producing air guns for sale.
