“Grotesque”. American associations fighting against violence caused by firearms have been outraged since the marketing of the JR-15. This semi-automatic rifle designed for children was put on the market in mid-January in the United States.
It is “the first of many weapons that will help adults introduce children to the sport of shooting in complete safety”, explains the manufacturer WEE1 Tactical, which hails on its website a rifle “as the weapon of dad and mom “. The JR-15 (for “junior”) is only 80 cm long and weighs less than 1 kg. Supplied with magazines of five or ten 22 caliber long rifle cartridges, it is sold at a price of 389 dollars (about 340 euros)
A weapon used in several killings
The adult model, the AR-15, is the civilian version of a military-style weapon that has been used in a series of killings, including in schools, in the United States. In the country of Uncle Sam, the right to possess weapons is guaranteed by the Constitution. Attempts to regulate their sale are often blocked in the US Congress, where the powerful NRA arms lobby wields strong influence.
On December 14, 2012, a mentally retarded youth killed 26 people, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. This tragedy had deeply marked public opinion. The AR-15 was also used in the Las Vegas shootings in 2017, the deadliest in recent history in the country with 58 dead, or Parkland High School in Florida (17 dead) in 2018.
Attract young customers
“At first sight, it looks like a grotesque farce. On closer inspection, it’s just grotesque,” Josh Sugarmann, director of the Violence Policy Center, which fights gun violence, commented on Friday. The Newtown Action Alliance, a pro-gun control group, condemned the gun lobby and manufacturers who are doing “everything to keep making profits”.
Josh Sugarmann castigated the means of graphic communication used by the manufacturer to attract young customers: a pirate skull with an Iroquois haircut for boys and blond quilts for girls, a pacifier in their mouths. In a 2016 report on the methods of American arms manufacturers to attract young people, he denounced the weapons painted with bright colors (pink, red, orange or metallic purple) appreciated by young audiences and lighter to handle. In 2021, firearms killed nearly 45,000 people in the United States, including about 24,000 suicides, and more than 1,500 minors were killed, according to the organization Gun Violence Archive.