Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is calling on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate an Illinois-based gun manufacturer for marketing firearms to children.
Industry representatives and gun rights activists say it is just one more assault on a Constitutional right Democrats don’t like.
“Today we are asking the FTC to investigate the company that makes and advertises this weapon to kids,” Schumer said during a Jan. 26 press conference.
Schumer was talking about the JR-15, manufactured by Illinois-based Wee1 Tactical. The rifle is a scaled-down .22 long rifle caliber version of the AR-15.
In a YouTube video recorded last year, Eric Schmid, owner of Schmid Tool, the parent company of Wee1, said the rifle is designed to help parents teach marksmanship and gun safety to their children.
Wee1 issued this statement: “The JR-15 .22 youth training rifle is for adults who wish to supervise the safe introduction of hunting and shooting sports to the next generation of responsible gun owners.
“Parents and guardians wanting to pass on this American tradition have been purchasing small caliber, lighter youth training rifles for decades. The JR-15 incorporates a patented safety mechanism that provides an added level of safety available on no other rifle in production.”
Schumer, and other Democrats, compared the company’s marketing to tobacco advertising designed to woo children into self-destructive habits.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) called the company’s marketing “obscene and outrageous.”
Profits Ahead of Safety
The senators said that, in their opinion, the advertising violates Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.“Deceptive and misleading advertising is against the law,” Blumenthal said.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) touted her military service as giving her firsthand experience on how rifles are used in combat. She recounted speaking at her daughter’s school and seeing her 4-year-old participate in a lockdown drill. She said watching her child practicing hiding from an intruder was heart-rending.
“She was already being taught how to try to survive if someone comes into her school with one of these weapons of war,” Duckworth said. “We cannot and must not allow this to go on.”
Duckworth was wounded on Nov. 12, 2004, when the Blackhawk helicopter she was piloting was shot down in Iraq. She lost both legs and partial use of her right arm as a result. She was awarded the Purple Heart.
She and other Democrats blamed the Republican party for blocking their efforts to implement broader gun control laws. She accused Wee1 of putting profits ahead of children’s safety.
Restrict Criminals, Not Guns
Mark Oliva, managing director of public affairs for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, said Duckworth and the other politicians could better serve their constituents by taking criminals off the streets rather than disarming citizens.“We don’t deny people buying SUVs because they’re involved in drunk driving incidents,” Oliva told The Epoch Times.
Oliva and other Second Amendment advocates said this is not the first time Schumer and Democrats have focused on the JR-15. Oliva called any claims that the JR-15 is more accessible to children “patently false.”
“The JR-15 can only be purchased by adults,” Oliva said.
Aidan Johnston, director of federal affairs for Gun Owners of America, called the action nothing more than fear-mongering.
Patented Safety
In a YouTube video from last year’s SHOT Show, Schmid said the JR-15 was designed to help parents teach their children gun safety and marksmanship under adult supervision. In the video, he points out the patented safety modeled on childproof pill bottles.The weapon’s safety requires a certain amount of strength and dexterity to engage and disengage. This makes it less likely that a child will be able to fire the weapon unsupervised. According to the Wee1 website, the company also participates in the NSSF’s Project Childsafe, which provides gun locks and information on how to store firearms safely.
Youth model firearms are nothing new in America. The .22 long rifle is one of the most popular calibers in history. Its low price and light recoil make it popular with small-game hunters, target shooters, and youth marksmanship programs. Most firearms manufacturers have made and sold their most popular models in youth sizes.
An ad for Stevens firearms from the early 1900s reads, “If you wish your boy to grow up healthy and robust get him one of our favorite rifles; teach him to use it and let him enjoy the outdoor life.”
Rifles Share No Parts
The JR-15 is modeled to resemble the AR-15, though they share no common parts. In operation, it’s closer to one of the most popular semiautomatic rifles, the Remington 550 Speedmaster, though they are not the same.The Speedmaster was introduced in 1957 and has been a popular youth rifle for years.
According to Oliva, the one thing the JR-15 does share with its grownup counterpart is the disdain of gun control activists.
“The things they don’t like about the JR-15 are the same things they don’t like about the modern sporting rifle,” Oliva said.
Not The Same As Tobacco
Chris Stone is the communications director for the National Association for Gun Rights. He agreed with Oliva saying the attack by Democrats is nothing new.“They have spent their entire careers trying to strip Americans of their Second Amendment rights,” Stone told The Epoch Times.
He pointed out that recent shootings Schumer and his fellows pointed to as reason gun ownership needs to be restricted all occurred in states with the strictest gun laws. Stone said the solution to gun violence is to enable citizens to defend themselves.
“It’s completely foolish to double down on their stupidity. We should be doing the opposite,” Stone told The Epoch Times.
Oliva added that the comparison to the tobacco industry is an attempt to draw attention away from the real issue, crime prevention. He said there is no comparison between the two industries.
“This is nothing short of their attempts to weaponize the FTC to deny the First Amendment rights of a company that manufactures a lawful product,” Oliva said.
