US pro-gun groups challenge California ban on firearms marketing to kids

The publisher of a shooting magazine for kids joined by several gun-rights groups has filed a lawsuit against a recently enacted California law banning the marketing of guns to kids.

In a lawsuit lodged on Friday at the federal court in Los Angeles, the publisher of Junior Shooters magazine and groups including the Second Amendment Foundation argued that the law violated their free speech rights under the US Constitution's First Amendment.

Last week, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom signed the proposed draft bill AB 2571 into law, citing the need for new laws "as the Supreme Court rolls back important gun safety protections."

'Just like Mom and Dad's gun'

Newsom's office cited advertising by a US gun manufacturer named Wee 1 Tactical of an AR-15 meant for kids as an example of why the law was needed to protect kids from guns and gun violence.

Earlier this year, the gun manufacturer unveiled a semi-automatic rifle for kids modeled on the AR-15, which has been used in a number of deadly mass shootings in the United States.

The gun dubbed the JR-15 is being marketed as "the first in a line of shooting platforms that will safely help adults introduce children to the shooting sports."

The company's advertisement says the rifle "also looks, feels, and operates just like Mom and Dad's gun."

JR-15 is 80 centimeters long, weighs less than 2.5 one kilogram and comes with magazines of five or 10 rounds of .22 caliber bullets. It was released in mid-January with a price tag of $389. The adult model, AR-15, is the civilian version of a military-style assault rifle and has been used in multiple mass killings in the United States, including in schools.

Meanwhile, in Friday's lawsuit, Junior Sports Magazines Inc, the kids’ shooting magazine publisher, and pro-gun groups, also including the California Rifle & Pistol Association, said the new law went too far and had restricted their speech rights.

They said it wrongly prohibits the promotion of lawful firearm-related events and programs and impermissibly restricted pro-gun organizations from promoting membership in their groups in ways deemed "attractive to minors."

In this regard, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in separate statements posted on Twitter that he would defend the right to be safe from gun violence and take any and all activities under the law to defend California's commonsense gun laws which save lives.

New and strict gun control laws have become a pressing issue in the United States following a series of mass shootings like the one at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, in which 19 children and two teachers were killed in May and the killing of seven people at a parade in a Chicago suburb on July 4.

Six killed: US marks Independence Day with mass shooting

A mass shooting during a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, has left at least six people dead and three dozen hospitalized.

The Gun Violence Archive, GVA, which is an independent data collection organization, has documented 212 mass shootings that have occurred this year up to and including May 25th.

GVA defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are shot or killed excluding the shooter. The United States ended 2021 with 693 mass shootings, the year before there were 611 and 2019 included 417.

As for school shootings, in 2021 alone there were 34 shooting incidents at educational institutions the highest since the GVA established its database.
 

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