U.S. Senate Democrats name for probe into ‘JR-15’ child-size rifle By Reuters

By Gram Slattery and Diane Bartz

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A gaggle of outstanding Democratic U.S. senators together with Majority Chief Chuck Schumer requested the Federal Commerce Fee (FTC) on Thursday to open an investigation into an organization they stated is advertising and marketing a rifle to kids.

In a press convention, the lawmakers questioned the advertising and marketing strategies of gun producer Wee 1 Tactical, which produces the JR-15 .22 Lengthy Rifle. The equally named AR-15-style rifle has been utilized in plenty of high-profile lethal shootings in america lately.

The senators’ request comes simply days after a trio of mass shootings in California that killed 19 individuals. Earlier within the month, a 6-year-old boy with a handgun shot and significantly wounded a instructor in Virginia.

“The legislation says you should not be advertising and marketing weapons to children. However there’s an organization in Chicago that is doing simply that,” Schumer stated of Wee 1 Tactical.

In an announcement, Wee 1 Tactical stated that its product was meant as a software to soundly train accountable gun possession.

“The JR-15 .22 youth coaching rifle is for adults who want to supervise the protected introduction of looking and taking pictures sports activities to the following technology of accountable gun house owners,” the corporate wrote in an announcement.

“The JR-15 incorporates a patented security mechanism that gives an added stage of security obtainable on no different rifle in manufacturing.”

Democrats have been trying to tighten gun management measures in america for many years in a bid to tamp down frequent mass shootings. Republicans have largely opposed such measures, saying they infringe on the precise to maintain and bear arms enshrined within the Second Modification of the U.S. Structure.

Congress final 12 months handed its first vital gun-safety laws in a decade. It included provisions that might assist states maintain weapons out of the palms of these deemed to be a hazard to themselves or others and shut the so-called boyfriend loophole by blocking gun gross sales to these convicted of abusing single intimate companions. Nonetheless, it didn’t ban gross sales of assault-style rifles or high-capacity magazines.

The investigation request seems to fall exterior the FTC’s regular purview. The regulator, which declined to remark, enforces antitrust legislation and guidelines in opposition to misleading and unfair enterprise practices.