A prominent gun convention began Tuesday in Las Vegas, less than 3 miles from the site of America’s deadliest shooting, with organizers welcoming thousands of visitors, hundreds of suppliers and a firearm marketed at children.
The presence of the JR-15 firearm at the Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show — or SHOT Show — came as a finger in the eye to gun safety activists, who have for months called out the long rifle.
In June, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., spoke on the House floor beside a JR-15 advertisement poster, which carried graphics of pony-tailed skulls with green and pink pacifiers in their mouths.
Pelosi, then the House speaker, called the gun’s marketing “disgusting.”
“Look at these little skulls,” Pelosi said sadly.
Despite outcry, the weapon landed at a booth on the lower level of SPOT Show’s Venetian Expo showcase, according to the gun’s manufacturer, Wee 1 Tactical.
Perhaps in response to criticism, the gunmaker has toned down some of its marketing. But its website still carries a banner showing a child aiming a rifle.
SHOT Show’s booth listing says the single-round rifle is “geared towards smaller enthusiasts” and promises the JR-15 will “assist families in safely passing on the proud American tradition of responsible gun ownership.”
“We believe that with proper mentorship this platform will build confidence and teach responsibility,” the listing says.
The 45th annual SHOT Show is taking place about a 15-minute drive from the high-rise hotel where a perched gunman rained bullets on an outdoor concert five years ago, killing 60 people.
And the four-day trade show is charging forward less than two weeks after a 6-year-old shot a grade school teacher in a Virginia classroom, leaving her with severe injuries.
College students staged a protest outside the closed-door convention, BuzzFeed News reported. SHOT Show, meanwhile, shared images on social media that appeared to show heavy crowds inside.
SHOT Show did not immediately respond to a request for comments on criticism of the convention. It declined to comment on how many people were expected to attend this year.
WEE 1 Tactical and Schmid Tool, the Chicago-area company operating the JR-15 booth, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
But Democrats lashed the gun’s presence at the trade show and the manufacturer’s continued targeting of kids.
“Make no mistake, even with new branding, the JR-15 is still a lethal and dangerous weapon that has no business in the hands of a child,” tweeted Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat and the majority leader, said the JR-15 amounts to a child’s version of an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle, panning the marketing of the gun as “dangerous” and “despicable.”
“The last thing we should be doing is shrinking these war machines and then marketing them to young kids,” Schumer told the Daily News. “It’s just awful.”
He said the marketing of the JR-15 is a “serious question with federal consequences.”
“People under 18 can’t own guns,” Schumer said. “So why would you be marketing them to them?”
