Semi-automatic rifle for kids like mom and dad's gun creates controversy in U.S.
Eva Deschamps / February 19, 2022
The JR-15, a rifle specially designed for children based on an assault rifle used in several deadly shootings, recently hit the market in the United States, angering anti-gun violence groups.
It's the first of many guns that will help adults introduce children to the sport of shooting safely, according to WEE1 Tactical, which hails the gun on its website as like mom and dad's gun.
The JR-15 (for Junior) is only 80 cm long and weighs less than a kilo. Delivered with magazines of 5 or 10 rounds of 22 long rifle caliber, it was marketed in mid-January at a price of 389 dollars.
The adult model, the AR-15, is the civilian version of a military-style weapon that has been used in a series of school and other killings that have shocked the United States.
Shootings are a recurring plague in the United States, where the right to own guns is guaranteed by the Constitution. Attempts to regulate their sale are often blocked in the US Congress, where the powerful NRA gun lobby wields strong influence.
In 2021, guns 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 Gun Violence Archive.