A semi-automatic rifle designed especially for children: Democratic senators on Thursday strongly denounced the business practices of a US maker of lethal small arms, light weapons.
The JR-15, modeled after an assault rifle model used in several deadly shootings, is “absolutely disgusting,” condemned Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer.
“The last thing we should be doing is shrinking these weapons of war and marketing them to children,” he said, urging the US Consumer Protection Agency (FTC) to open an investigation. about its manufacturer.
For “little lovers”
The rifle, which weighs just two pounds, shoots well with live ammunition. Provided with one, five or ten magazines for 22 caliber long rifle cartridges, it was marketed for the first time last January, at a price of 389 dollars.
The company WEE1 Tactical, which sells this weapon, describes it as “a piece of American liberty” intended “for short hobbyists.”
On his website, he shows a young blonde looking through the sight of one of these rifles under the snow.
Consulted by AFP, the company defended the sale of its weapon, which according to it does not have “a safety mechanism” present in any other rifle.
A concrete case this month
“In the face of the epidemic of youth gun violence and shootings,” a gun like this “simply shouldn’t exist,” Chuck Schumer hammered home.
He took as an example the case of a 6-year-old boy who shot and wounded his teacher earlier this month at a Virginia school.
Shootings are a recurring scourge in the United States, where the right to own guns is guaranteed by the Constitution.
On Thursday, President Joe Biden again urged lawmakers to ban assault rifles as a matter of urgency. But attempts to regulate their sale are often blocked in the US Congress, where gun lobbyists wield strong influence.
Source: BFM TV
