USA: Semi-automatic weapon for children provokes strong reactions

The JR-15semi-automatic rifle designed especially for children, based on the type weapon which has been used in many massacres on USAmade its appearance on the market last month, sparking outrage among militant organizations fighting violence using firearms.

It is “the first of many weapons that will help adults familiarize their children with the sport of shooting, with all safety”, the company assures WEE1 Tacticalwhich advertises on its website a rifle “like dad’s mom’s gun”.

The JR-15 (from the “junior”) is 80 cm long and weighs less than a kilo. It takes cartridges of 5 and 10 cartridges, 0.22 long rifle caliber. It went on sale in mid-January for $ 389.

The model for adults, the AR-15, is the political version of a military-type assault rifle. It has been used in countless massacres, especially in schools, which shocked them USA.

Massacres with the use of weapons are a scourge on USA, where the right to bear arms is constitutionally guaranteed. Initiatives to control their sales usually end up in the trash Congresswhere the powerful arms lobby, the NRAhas a great influence.

On December 14, 2012, a mentally disturbed young man killed 26 people, including 20 children, in primary school Sandy Hook in Newtownin the Connecticut (northeast), a tragedy that deeply marked the Americans.

The AR-15 was also used in the massacre at Las Vegas in 2017, the deadliest attack of its kind in the recent history of the country (58 victims), and in a high school in the city Parkland in Florida in 2018 (17 dead).

“At first glance, it looks like a grotesque joke. “When you look at it more closely, it is simply grotesque”, commented yesterday Friday (18/2) the Josh Sugarmanthe general manager of the organization Violence Policy Centerwhich fights against violence through the use of firearms.

THE Newtown Action Alliancean organization that advocates gun control policies, has stigmatized the arms lobby and manufacturers who “do everything to continue to accumulate profits.”

THE Josh Sugarman focused specifically on the symbols the manufacturer uses to attract small customers: a pirate skull, with blonde moikana for boys, blonde pigtails for girls – and a pacifier in the mouth.

In his report on the methods of the manufacturers of their weapons USA In order to attract young people, he had published in 2016, stating that the weapons are painted in vivid colors (pink, red, orange, purple) and are designed to be lighter and have a softer recoil.

In 2021, firearms claimed the lives of nearly 45,000 people in USA, including 24,000 suicides. More than 1,500 minors were among the victims, according to the organization Gun Violence Archive.

Source: News Beast

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