A group of Democratic senators asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the United States on Thursday to penalize advertising and other marketing actions to sell weapons aimed at minors.
The majority leader in the Upper House, the progressive Chuck Schumer, said at a press conference that they specifically refer to the marketing of the JR-15 (JR refers to junior), the “children’s” version of the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.
This comes after a 6-year-old boy at a Virginia school shot his teacher in the chest, seriously wounding her, with a 9mm gun his mother had purchased legally in early January. The minor’s family indicated that the child has a disability.
Schumer noted that there is a company in Chicago that is marketing the JR-15 rifle and that it is carrying out an advertising campaign directed at minors, just after that event in Virginia (although in that case the child used another type of weapon). .
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The Democratic official stated that the FTC should investigate whether that company is violating current laws and regulations.
“The last thing we should be doing is reducing the size of these lethal weapons (the AR-15) to later sell them to minors. That is what is happening,” Schumer denounced.
The Democratic leader showed several advertising posters for that company in which a minor can be seen pointing his rifle.
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The last thing we should be doing is reducing the size of these lethal weapons (the AR-15) to sell to minors.
Another Democratic senator, Richard Blumenthal, described in the same appearance before the press as “absolutely obscene and scandalous” the mere existence of the JR-15.
“And let’s be clear on this point, we don’t need new legislation here, we don’t need any new law, what is needed is that existing laws be enforced,” Blumenthal said, adding that the FTC has the power to do so.
This legislator compared the current behavior of arms companies with that of tobacco companies in the past: Arms companies have assumed “the marketing book for minors, because that is where the money is,” he summarized.
The order comes at a critical time. In the first 25 days of 2023, there have been 40 mass shootings in 18 different states spread across the US, according to figures from the Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit organization that counts the events of armed violence that occur daily in the country.
(You can read: At least two dead after shooting at a school in the United States)
GVA defines a mass shooting as one that ends with three victims, whether dead or wounded, not including the perpetrator of the attack if he died or was injured during the event.
EFE
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